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New Algerian refinery is joint venture with Chinese firm

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, May 7, 2007

CAIRO — Algeria has opened a refinery built by China.

The refinery, with a capacity of 600,000 tons a year, was established by Soralchin, a joint venture of China National Petroleum Corp. and Algeria's state-owned monopoly Sonatrach.

Officials said the Sbaa refinery, the first in Algeria to employ catalytic cracking technology, would reduce the burden on Skikda, Algeria's only clean gasoline producer. They said Naftachin would distribute products from the new refinery under a 25-year contract, Middle East Newsline reported.

In all, Naftachin would sell 240,000 tons of gas oil, 220,000 tons of gasoline, 30,000 tons of kerosene and 20,000 tons of propane from the new facility. According to projections, the Sbaa refinery would meet six percent of domestic fuel demand.

The refinery is located at Sbaa in western Algeria and would reduce dependency on other facilities.


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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