The world’s youngest country, South Sudan, has concluded plans to construct four oil refineries, says Nilepet Director-General for Downstream, James Yugusuk.
The refineries will be built in the country’s Bentiu, Paloch, Thiangrial and Pagak region.
South Sudan, which depends on oil revenue for 98 percent of its budget, do not have a local refinery and has to depend on import of fuel despite being one of the largest oil exporter in the East African region.
According to Yugusuk, the state-run oil firm, Nilepet, aims to be a world-class operator by 2022 by training local engineers to world standards.
“We want to have our own block to operate, raise world-class South Sudanese technical staff and construct four refineries: one in Bentiu, Paloch, Pagak and Thiangrial. All those are producing blocks”, Yugusak said.
Yugusuk added that the government plans to “construct depots in major towns in South Sudan which is a very ambitious plan because we need to have strategic reserves.”
“We want to extend our retail outlets to all the major towns in South Sudan. We want to have a very robust and highly effective JV and this is for companies and people who are willing to do that. We also want to have a strong footprint in the research and development programmes.”
Since 2013, Nilepet has been participating in Joint Operating Companies in the country, holding stakes on behalf of the government in these JOCs through which it builds the capacity of its staff.