The financing, if completed, will mark the first borrowing by the Southern African oil producer from China since 2017, when it opted to reduce its exposure to resource-backed loans.
The company was engaging with “financial institutions in China” to secure funding for one phase of the $6.2 billion project, Sonangol’s Chief Executive Officer Sebastiao Gaspar Martins told a news briefing.
“The next phase is estimated at $4.8 billion, and we are contacting Chinese institutions with the support of the contractor, who is also Chinese, to obtain this financing,” he said.
Martins did not say which financial institutions Sonangol was talking to but the finance ministry said last month the loan could come from China Development Bank, without providing more details.
A team from Sonangol will visit Beijing for meetings with Chinese financial institutions in April. The terms of the financing do not envisage the use of oil as collateral, the company said. Angola’s government says the refinery is a “strategic” project, and it is expected to start producing refined petroleum products in December next year.
–Reuters–
