Empresas y finanzas

Houston Based Firms Establish Partnership with Petroci to Build State-of-the-Art Refinery in Africa



    Energy Allied International and WCW International, Inc. of
    Houston, Texas and Petroci, the National Oil Company of Cote d'
    Ivoire, announced today that they will partner to build, own and
    operate a 60,000 barrel-per-day crude oil refining facility and a
    strategic refined products storage facility in Abidjan. Energy Allied
    International and WCW International will jointly develop the project
    and select the engineering, procurement and construction company for
    the USD 1.4 billion facility. This 250-acre refinery will be among the
    largest upgrading facilities in Africa. The market study and technical
    feasibility study for the refinery was completed by The Shaw Group
    (NYSE:SGR) as third party technical expert. Financial advisory
    services were performed by Taylor-DeJongh. The partnership has been
    granted the approval to proceed with the engineering and design and
    will finalize the plans for funding with financial institutions. The
    project will be led from Energy Allied International's headquarters in
    Houston, Texas.

    This refinery will process 60,000 barrels per day of crude and
    produce gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil and butane for sale into West
    African markets. The process technologies are sophisticated and highly
    flexible with respect to quality of crude feed, yet proven and in wide
    spread use. This region is short of the required capacity to produce
    these refined products and is presently importing from Europe and the
    Middle East.

    His Excellency, President Laurent Gbagbo, of the Republic of Cote
    d'Ivoire, said, "This is a direct result of the peace process and the
    confidence that has been generated in the international and domestic
    investment community." His Excellency further added, "Our government
    welcomes this partnership of Energy Allied International and WCW
    International with Petroci. This signals the resumption of significant
    major investments in Cote d'Ivoire."

    The Minister of Mines and Energy of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire,
    Mr. Emmanuel Leon Monnet, stated, "This refinery will bring
    state-of-the-art technology and complements the existing refinery
    operations in our country. Furthermore, it will create many direct and
    indirect local jobs."

    Kassoum Fadika, Petroci Director General, said, "The
    implementation of this new refinery is a much anticipated next step in
    our vision to make Abidjan and Cote d'Ivoire a major center for
    refining and redistribution of high end petroleum products along the
    West African Atlantic Basin."

    "We are very pleased to be participating in the development of
    this project for the Republic of Cote d' Ivoire and all the people in
    this region of West Africa. We will bring much needed refining
    technology and capacity to the region, enabling Petroci to provide
    countries with clean refined products from local West African crude,"
    said Mike Nassar, Chairman and CEO of Energy Allied International.

    "This timely and strategically significant project will utilize
    state-of-the-art and environmentally sensitive technology and will
    minimize the dependency of the region on imported petroleum products,"
    commented Chris Wilmot, President and CEO of WCW International.