Equatorial Guinea, Marathon Oil let contract for modular refinery

Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH) and strategic partner Marathon Oil Co. have let a contract to VFuels LLC, Houston, to execute the feasibility study for construction of a modular crude oil refinery in Punta Europa, Malabo, on Bioko Island.

As part of the study—which is scheduled to be completed within 12 weeks of the contract’s signature—VFuels will deliver engineering and design of the proposed 5,000-b/d modular refinery to supply finished products for consumption by Equatorial Guinea’s domestic market, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) said on Apr. 23.

The refining project comes as part of MMH’s initiative of the Year of Investment 2020, which is seeking investments for a modular refinery and storage tanks in the continental region, as well as promotion of other projects derived from methanol, among others.

“This is an important step when it comes to implementing this project with an important goal to prevent stock outs and provide refined products of higher quality to economic operators and the general public,” said H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, MMH’s minister.

The contract award, for which no value was disclosed, follows MMH’s December 2019 order for dismantling of a methanol plant owned by Atlantic Methanol Production Co. LLC at the Punta Europa gas complex—owned by Marathon Oil 45% as well as partners Noble Energy Inc. 45% and Sociedad Nacional de Gas de GE SA 10%—and its conversion into a modular crude oil refinery (OGJ Online, Dec. 19, 2019).

MMH’s late-2019 order was followed a January 2020 meeting between the government of Equatorial Guinea and Marathon Oil executives at which the parties agreed both to the refining project and an immediate start to feasibility studies related to methanol gasoline and derivatives, AEC said.