 GUARANTEED VALUE ADDED TO CRUDE AND NATURAL GAS FROM CÔTE D'IVOIRE |
PETROCI ( Société nationale d'opérations pétrolières ) has been broken up into four entities, each with a specific area of activity. Since March 2, 1998, PETROCI INDUSTRIES- SERVICES has been in charge of Côte d'Ivoire's oil resources , trading and distributing crude, refined products and lubricants, expanding and developing logistical facilities and providing services to the hydrocarbon industry, especially to the research and production sectors. PETROCI INDUSTRIES-SERVICES is bound to increase its partnerships and step up employee training before opening up 49% of its capital to private investors when the time is ripe.
PETROCI INDUSTRIES-SERVICES focuses on the quick development of sales activities, starting with trading, in order to increase the cash flow that finances industrial projects. The company markets imported lubricants, distributes refined products including gas oil, DDO and fuel oil to major consumers and purchases 500,000 tons of crude a year from international traders and producers to meet the SIR's needs.
Ernest Koffi Koffi graduated from the IAE in Grenoble and is an engineer from the INSA in Lyon. He learned the ropes at the EECI, the BNETD and the SIR before joining Pétroci in 1982. KOFFI has been assistant managing director in charge of industry and services since August 1996, and became managing director of PETROCI INDUSTRIES-SERVICES when it was set up in March 1998.
A used-oil regeneration and lubricant formulation plant in partnership with SOMEPI of Morocco and PETROMAX of Canada, and a production unit to make nitrogenous fertilizer out of natural gas in cooperation with a Chinese company called CNTIC (Beijing). The first project mentioned will enable us to start manufacturing low-priced products in strict compliance with international standards and specifications this year. The second will enable us to produce 350,000 tons of urea and 200,000 tons of ammonia a year starting in 2001, which will help Côte d'Ivoire boost its agricultural output and guarantee the availability of lower-cost fertilizers throughout West Africa. Both units point to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of PETROCI INDUSTRIES - SERVICES, which perseveres in the development of many other promising projects, such as plastics (PVC). We are currently working with LURGI of Germany on a feasibility study for a plant that will make methanol out of a natural gas. |
We are in the process of completing a fuel and lubricant distribution network with ENGEN, a leading company in South Africa. This partnership will make the range of lubricants available to the general consumer. Until now, they have been used mainly in manufacturing, transportation, construction, farming and forestry.
With the rise in offshore bunkering operations and the number of oil-loading wharves, the port of Abidjan is bound to become a multi-service station for tankers in the lagoon as well as on the high seas. PETROCI INDUSTRIES - SERVICES is laying the groundwork for this development and perfecting the services offered on the main wharf, which accommodates 35,000- metric-ton-tankers, and on the large wharf reserved for 6,000-metric-ton barges. The pipe network connecting the wharves to our clients is in mint condition. The program to rehabilitate and expand the storage depot located near the Vridi canal is making headway. ADDAX, a leading company, is our partner in that project. Negotiations with the international group SIRPI-INTEROIL are under way to develop offshore bases with including engineering, maintenance, various supply operations, hookups with ships and the construction of oil platforms. |
