Project Profile
Location: Cape Lemboh Limbe, Cameroon
Capacity: 42,000 bpd
Start-up year: 1981
SonARA Limbe Refinery Cameroon is located at Cape Lemboh Limbe, Cameroon. This infrastructure is of TYPE Crude Oil Refineries and CATEGORY Fuels and Resources with a design capacity of 42,000 bpd. It is owned by Societe Nationale de Raffinage S.A. (SONARA).
The refinery was built in Limbe, in the English-speaking region of Cameroon, about 100km from Douala. Construction by Procofrance began in 1979, and the refinery opened in May 1981. A major improvement project involving the replacement of the crude oil SBM with a wharf for loading/discharging, and an increase in tankage capacity was undertaken in 1996. In 2001 a project to improve the distillation yields (deep distillation), and to further increase tankage capacity, was completed.
In 2011 the refinery received 75 billion CFA francs (US$164 million) from eight banks for the expansion of the refinery. Limbé Refinery upgrade and modernization project is executed in two phases. Phase 1 included the revamp of the existing crude distillation unit, addition of a new vacuum distillation unit, new catalytic reformer unit, and power generation and associated offsites and utilities facilities. This project is of significant strategic importance for Cameroon, allowing the Limbé Refinery to process local crude and condensate while increasing processing capacity and improving overall refinery utilization. Under the second phase (Phase 2) of its modernization program, Sonara will build a hydrocracker to refine locally produced crude.
The Limbe refinery was conceived at first to treat light crude (Arabian light). The main objective of the refinery is to refine crude oil and supply the finished petroleum products like butane, gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, gas oil and fuel oil to the national market. The refinery is mainly focussed on the domestic market, but also sells to neighbouring countries (CEMAC), and exports around 500,000 million tonnes per year to international markets by sea.
Operators:
Societe Nationale de Raffinage S.A. (SONARA) (Consortium of ExxonMobil, Government of Cameroon, Shell & Total)
Government of Cameroon: 66% interest
TOTAL: 18% interest
ExxonMobil Corporation: 8% interest
Shell International Ltd: 8% interest
Contractors: Technology licensing, engineering, and construction.
Consortium of French firms Suez SA, Sogea Satom, and Ingenica:
Foster Wheeler: Engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) services contract for Phase 1 of the Limbé Refinery upgrade and modernization project in Cameroon.
Cegelec: Upgrade the management system and replace instrumentation and controls at the refinery.