The Government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Attorney General’s office has reclaimed properties belonging to the defunct Sierra Leone Petroleum Refinery Company at Kissy.
Speaking to Global Times recently, the Minister of Trade and Industry Dr. Edward Hinga Sandy said that, “Prior to the coming of the Bio administration to office in April 2018, a lot of people were laying claim to the old refinery properties…But through the Ministry of Justice we took ownership of the properties as those that were claiming ownership were not the legal owners as the Government of Sierra Leone is the rightful owner”.
The Minister continued, “We could have refurbished the refinery in partnership with a private company but the previous Government had sold some areas of the facility to other companies such as Kissy Industries owned by Jamel Shallop which has rendered the facility unfit for refinery purposes. So we have given part the facility to All Petroleum Products (APP), who have done a marvelous job in refurbishing the facility to a first class storage facility in partnership with the Government.”
It would be recalled that, The Sierra Leone Petroleum Refinery Company was opened in 1970 as a joint business venture between the Government of Sierra Leone and other major international oil companies like BP, Mobil, Texaco and Shell. The government had a 50% vested interest but in 1992, the refinery was shut because government no longer had the foreign exchange earnings to operate the facility. The refinery had the capacity of producing about 450 000 tons of crude oil per year. The refined products included premium motor spirit, domestic purpose kerosene, aviation turbine kerosene, automotive gas oil, bunker gas oil, fuel oil, bunker fuel oil, lead-free naphtha, liquid petroleum gas, marine diesel oil, and special distillate.
APP SL Limited is a Sierra Leone based and Pan-African owned energy company involved in the production, marketing and distribution of high quality and global industry standard petroleum products. With an extensive network of retail outlets and significant storage facilities in Sierra Leone, the company procures and distributes petrol (PMS), diesel (AGO), kerosene (DPK) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Our services also include the production and distribution of a wide range of quality lubricants.
APP SL operates in the downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry as a leading petroleum marketing company with a strategic network of outlets in across Sierra Leone. The Company specializes in the importation, storage and distribution of high quality and global industry standard petroleum products to independent dealers, bulk operators, mining companies and owned and operated retail outlet stations.
