Sudan, Petronas to discuss refinery plans in March

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Officials from Sudan and Malaysia’s state oil company Petronas are scheduled to meet in March to discuss plans for a delayed joint-venture refinery project, Sudan’s oil minister said.

“We are meeting with our joint-venture partner to see how we can move forward with this project,” Sudanese energy and mines minister al-Zubeir Ahmed Al-Hassan said on Monday on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference in New Delhi.

Petronas had plans to build a refinery in Sudan but the cost of building a new plant is estimated to have risen to about $5 billion from $1-$2 billion when it was first planned.

Sudan, where Petronas is a major investor and has equity in the Nile Blend and Dar Blend oilfields, faces U.S. economic sanctions to press for an end to the conflict in the Darfur region.