Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima,
recently visited Nigeria’s modular refinery and expressed his willingness to replicate it in
Equatorial Guinea.
The modular refinery is being constructed in the Ibigwe oilfield by Waltersmith Refining &
Petrochemicals Company and will produce 5,000 barrels of per day once construction is
complete.
“We in Equatorial Guinea believe that we have been, for many years, exporting our crude;
and for many years we have been asking the question: ‘can we do something else with the
industry.’ So, clearly, the processing of the product has been one of them; and rather than
going to Europe, United States or Asia, we decided to come to our neighbor to see what
they are doing,” said Minister Obiang Lima.
During the visit, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring
Board, Simbi Kesiye Wabote, said that the project was aligned with the vision of the African
Continental Free Trade Agreement, which provides future trade and innovation for the
African continent.
“Primarily, I don’t put it in the local content context, I put it in the African Continental Free
Trade Agreement that has been signed, which has a lot of potentials for African countries to
trade amongst themselves. What we’re doing today at this site, is a typical example of how
it should be done where we learn from one another. What Nigeria does and what Equatorial
Guinea does and so, we exchange ideas,” Wabote said.
Minister Obiang Lima added that Equatorial Guinea intends to process its own oil in the
future.
“Clearly, I am excited about what I am seeing here; and it gives me the confidence that we
also can do it. And we do believe that this experiment and cooperation, both Waltersmith
and the Nigerian industry are doing, we should replicate it. Of course, Nigerians have more
experience and that clearly showed that it is the best thing to do. We do believe that this
cooperation will not be limited to exporting our crude, but also refine it in commercial
terms.”
