Luanda – Work on the second phase of the Sonangol project, “Falcão 2”, underway in Soyo Province, northern Zaire Province, is 74% advanced and it is expected to be delivered this year.
This is the construction of an onshore infrastructure for the reception, transport and distribution of natural gas from the Angola LNG (liquefied natural gas) factory for the combined cycle power plant (Soyo), in a global investment of 36 million dollars from the national oil company, Sonangol.
According to the Chairman of Sonangol's Board of Directors, Gaspar Martins, who was speaking at a press conference for the display of the company 2022 provisional results, the finalization of the detailed engineering of the equipment for the construction of the infrastructure of reception, transport and distribution of natural gas.
The project, he added, will make it possible to have additional gas available for the Soyo fertilizer industrial complex, one under construction within the framework of the consortium between the national oil company and the Angolan business group Opaia.
The “Falcão 2” project will make it possible to increase the reception and conditioning capacity from 75 million to 125 million cubic feet of natural gas, to be handed out to industries such as electricity generation, in addition to the fertilizer industrial complex in Soyo.
The initiative is being implemented in the perimeter adjacent to the Soyo combined cycle plant, in an area of ten thousand square metres.
The project is part of a broader initiative to develop the natural gas industry in the country, using oil and natural gas as a source of raw material.
Inside the Complex
The first stone for the construction of the Soyo Fertilizer Industrial Complex, with a production capacity of 3,500 tons of granulated urea/day, was laid in mid-2022 by the minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo.
Scheduled to be conclude in 2026, the project is financed by US$2.2 billion from Afreximbank-African Bank for Exports and Imports.
With technical assistance from the company Saipem, it is expected that the construction of the complex will contribute to the promotion of national agricultural production, in addition to improving the standard of living and well-being of the local population.
Due to the existence of a gap between consumption and production of urea of 1,200 thousand tons in Southern and Central Africa, the project plans to give priority to the national market to satisfy the great need for fertilizers.
The surplus will be exported to the African Free Trade Zone and region and to other countries on a global scale.
