According to João Lourenço, the measure arises from the need to provide the country with onshore infrastructure for the storage of refined oil products to meet national consumption needs and create strategic reserves.
The presidential dispatch, to which Lusa had access this Thursday, states that the Ocean Terminal of Barra do Dande, Bengo province, will be constituted by a Refined Products Storage Park - Unit 100 and Ship Mooring Dock - Unit 700.
In the dispatch no. 173/20 of December 1st, the President also authorizes the acquisition of supervision services of the construction works of the same terminal, in the global value of 30.3 billion kwanzas.
Ensuring the safety of refined products, optimizing the efficiency of the national logistics for the distribution of these products and enhancing the country as a regional hub for the storage of oil derivatives are other objectives of this facility.
All decision-making and approval of the parts of the simplified contracting procedure, verification of the validity and legality of all acts performed, within the scope of the said procedure, including the signing of the contract, will be the responsibility of Sonangol's chairman of the board of directors.
The board of directors of the state-owned oil company, in compliance with the order, "shall ensure the financial resources necessary for the execution of the contract," as well as report to the Ministry of Finance on the conclusion of the procedure.
Sonangol and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced in November last year that they would resume construction of the Barra do Dande oil product storage logistics base, which was halted in 2016, with an investment of $600 million expected in the first phase of the project.
Onshore storage capacity of 641,500 cubic meters is expected in the first phase, and storage capacity is expected to double in the second phase, to a total of one million 700,000 cubic meters of oil products.
However, the expansion will only progress, depending on the conclusions of the market studies, explained Mauro Graça, the project director of the Ocean Terminal of Barra do Dande at the time.
"We are not going to build something that does not have a consumer market", he pointed out.
The infrastructure should be operational in the first half of 2022.
The infrastructure construction was previously estimated at 1500 million dollars and would be developed by Atlantic Ventures, a company associated with Isabel dos Santos - daughter of former President José Eduardo dos Santos - who saw the contract revoked in 2018 and at the time brought a lawsuit against the State.
The new joint venture, which will be created to build and manage the terminal, will be held in equal shares by Sonangol and Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum.
