Ivory Coast says to organize debt relief for state oil refinery
(Reuters) Ivory Coast will organize debt relief for the state oil refinery using public and private funds, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
The Societe Ivoirienne de Rafinage (SIR) is the biggest refinery in French-speaking West Africa and has accumulated debts worth hundreds of billions of CFA francs (hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars) since 2008.
"The amount will correspond to the financial need," government spokesman Bruno Nabagne Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting. The government was talking to private institutions to help finance the debt, he said.
The refinery provides Ivory Coast with nearly all its petroleum products and also supplies neighbouring countries. Nigeria is its primary supplier of crude oil and its main purchaser of refined exports.
SIR's annual output is currently 3.4 MMtpy, up from 3.142 MMtpy in 2012, and operating profit totaled at $60 MM last year, compared to $32 MM in 2012, Kone said.
Ivory Coast's economy has expanded rapidly since a decade of political turmoil ended in 2011. The government says putting the energy sector on a firm footing is key to future growth.
Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Susan Fenton
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