Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR), which has been refining crude in Abidjan since 1962, is racing to close a €633 million funding gap on a €833 million upgrade before a 2029 commissioning deadline. The African Development Bank has already committed €200 million and taken on the role of mandated lead arranger for a diesel hydrodesulfurisation complex designed to strip sulfur down to international specification — something the 80,000-barrel-per-stream-day refinery cannot currently do.
Structuring the remaining €633 million from a consortium of development finance institutions and other partners is now the Bank’s central task, and it is what will determine whether the 2029 timeline holds. SIR is also chasing the same specification through a separate route: a structured financing deal signed in Lomé on 11 June with a banking pool including Banque Atlantique Côte d’Ivoire, covering a gasoil desulfurisation unit meant to deliver Euro V-compliant fuel.
The stakes reach beyond Côte d’Ivoire’s borders. Landlocked Mali and Burkina Faso both draw refined products from the Abidjan plant, so whatever specification SIR can hit becomes the specification available to them too. The project is expected to support around 1,140 construction jobs, create 82 permanent positions, sustain roughly 900 existing jobs, and put 50 employees through a dedicated training programme. Kevin Kariuki, the African Development Bank’s vice president for power, energy, climate and green growth, described the project as pairing industrial modernisation with climate action and public health gains across West Africa.
Source: energy-news-network.com
