Cameroonian Sonara Refinery Readying for Expansion and Modernization

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--La Société Nationale du Raffinage (SONARA) (Limb, Cameroon) will perform a modernization program at its 45,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Sonara refinery in the city of Limbe, Cameroon.

The Sonara refinery has resumed activities in sequence since December 18, after a two-month maintenance turnaround that prepared the refinery to face an expansion and modernization program. The modernization will allow the Sonara complex to process heavy crude from Cameroon, instead of soley processing incoming light crude from Nigeria.

Work is scheduled to begin in September 2010, and the project is to be performed in two phases. The first phase, scheduled to finish at the end of 2012, includes the expansion of the existing 45,000-BBL/d Crude unit to process 69,000 BBL/d. During the second phase, a 26,000-BBL/d Vacuum unit will be added to a 20 million- to 30 million-standard-cubic-feet-per-day Steam Methane Reformer to support a new 15,000-BBL/d Hydrocracker, as well as a new 30-ton-per-day sulfur recovery unit with supporting Tail Gas Treater. It is expected that the expansion will be completed before the end of 2015.

The engineering, construction and procurement contracts have been awarded to Foster Wheeler France (Paris, France).

The Sonara refinery was created in 1976, and specializes in the production of gas oil, fuel oil, napthta and butane for domestic and export use.

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