Angolan firm Sonangol has said that work on its USD 3 billion 200,000-barrels-a-day oil refinery in Lobito will start next year and the plant will come on stream in 2006. Sonangol vice-president Syanga Abilio said that Angola, emerging from a civil war, was also launching a marketing offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia. The Angolan government will hold a 50% stake in the new oil refinery in Lobito. A 20% portion has been reserved for a foreign technical partner, 20% for a foreign financial partner and 10% for countries or companies within the 14-member Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
