Thursday, March 28, 2024

Indeni needs $1.7 billion for plant upgrade

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Indeni Oil Refinery in Ndola
Indeni Oil Refinery in Ndola

INDENI Petroleum Refinery managing director Maybin Noole says the company needs US$1.7 billion to put up a new plant or upgrade to enable it meet the current demand for petroleum products in the country.

Mr Noole said the current plant has never been rehabilitated for the past 40 years and new infrastructure is required to modernise the plant.

He said this in Ndola yesterday when Minister of Mines, Energy and Water Development Christopher Yaluma toured the plant.

Mr Noole said all the pieces of equipment at the plant are in an obsolete state and they need replacement.

“Sustainability of this business shall require further investment in the plant,” he said.

He said the company is also looking at other investments in order to improve the quality of fuel.

Mr Noole further said Indeni will in December this year start the production of 200 tonnes of bitumen per day.

He said Government gave the company US$16 million to rehabilitate the plant, which had been abandoned for the past nine years.

And Mr Yaluma said Government is concerned about the unprecedented shutdowns at Indeni.

He said the putting up of a new plant must be accelerated to ensure that the current local demand for petroleum products is met.

“We want to address the issues at Indeni by ensuring that we find the required money to either rehabilitate the plant or put up a new one,” he said.

Mr Yaluma said once bitumen production commences, Indeni will be able to provide two-thirds of the bitumen required by the Road Development Agency for road construction.

The minister also commended Indeni for its good safety record.

Later, Mr Yaluma toured Tazama Pipeline where he said Government intends to modernise the entire pipeline.

And Tazama Pipeline managing director Largeman Muzelenga said the firm has invested US$20 million in infrastructure development.

14 COMMENTS

    • Constructing a new plant would be a good idea, but then we have a very dull govt in place. At this point, they should have consolidated a state-ochestrated company with public listing to focus on investing in E&P activities in other countries since our own reserves are nonviable.
      Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya & Namibia are now active in E&P for both Oil & Gas. Zambians are busy bickering about tribes, who has more cattle, or who knows the most insults.
      – Zambians are lazy.
      – Zambians are weak.
      – Zambians lacks energy to transform their own circumstances.
      – Zambians are not innovative and act unintelligent despite boasting of intelligence.
      The above symptoms are that of a demoralized & uninspired people.

  1. make the new one finished product is expensive thats why we have all these subsidies crying from citizens.

  2. JUST SHUT the DAMN thing!! The reason for a refinery is so we can have cheaper fuel. But is that the case? No! Fuel is cheaper in Lubumbashi, Burundi, Rwanda, Zimbabwe they all do not have a Refinery. They depend on TRUCKS to bring in fuel. Fuel in Lubumbashi is half the cost of fuel here in Zambia.

  3. Noole…are you serious the plant has never been rehabilitated in last 40 years? As in 40 years???…you don’t know what you are doing.

  4. I thought these guys have been singing about having plans of constructing a new plant in NW Zambia to tap Oil from Angola… am I lost? Any update??

  5. The problem is that Indeni has been a cash cow for government where abuse and plundering is the order of the day as is the case with the other parastatals.There is no way an oil compnay can be losses but the question is where do the profits go? Why hasn’t government reinvested back the profits ? Noole, other managers and senior government officials have been plundering the company through and through.

    • The likes of Wynter are benefiting greatly from the weak porous procurement systems in this sector. He was intrusted to head a commission of inquiry to investigate the high cost of fuel only to end up with him forming his own energy company.

  6. We are told every year that Indeni will close for so many days for maintainance. How come this man is talking of no maintanance for 9 years? What were those closiers for? Even last year there was maintance closure.

  7. zambianwatchdog is more popular today than any other online media in whole of sub saharan africa.

    The best thing a repressive regime can do is to ban and talk bad about a news media. Politicians played a major role in the popularity and sales of Post Newspaper.KK was the first to make it popular and then Chiluba and other presidents by fighting it and talking bad about it, taking it to court, arresting its editor in chief made it more popular. We have challenges of poverty, inequality and injustice everywhere and that frustrate majority of Zambians. Anybody seen to be giving them a venue to express themselves, vent out their pent-up negativity is a great relief.

    This is what ZWD is. They not only expose injustice, intolerant and repressive actions of the ruling party but also…

  8. but also provide a venue to express freely, feel the pain and anguish of fellow bloggers and spread the message to far flung areas.

    More the repressive measures are taken, more sympathy will be with the repressed (even if he/she was wrong- wrong is forgotten and the pain, suffering , treatment takes front stage)

  9. On Indeni. Dismantle it and do not waste time and money on new refinery. Imported finished product will always be cheaper than bringing in crude and processing it in Zambia. Also let it be free for all oil companies and others who meet regulations of relevant bodies import oil and sell at any price they want to.
    Government shall just be concerned about their taxes.

  10. Import of crude oil is always a hot issue and politicians and middlemen are always in news. Kickbacks and corruption is rife.
    From logistical point of view, why shall oil come from Tanzania to Ndola, processed and then sent by road 850 Kms to Livingstone?
    It is much cheaper to get processed oil from South Africa to Livingstone than from within Zambia?
    Same applies to border areas with Mozambique, north western will have cheaper access from Angola and so on. Let private initiative create jobs across the countries and a win-win situation is created for all.

    We are a lucky country, so may borders, can import necessities of life from/through neighbouring countries to contiguous areas with obvious cost and strategic benefits.

    For ONCE Think out of the box or still better, no box.

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