Angolan oil company, Sonangol has signed an agreement with the government of Sao Tome to invest US$30 million in a new port to be built on the north of the island.
The deal, signed will earn Sonangol an exemption from paying taxes, according to Arzemiro dos Prazeresa, director of the offshore zone authority for Sao Tome and Principe.
Included in the construction is a depot for the sale of bunker fuels to fishing and commercial vessels operating in the Gulf of Guinea. The port should be in operation by 2010 and capable of handling half of the Gulf of Guinea’s maritime traffic – approximately 100 ships a day.
Sonangol has also agreed to undertake a feasibility study for the extension and refurbishment of the port of Sao Tome as well as for the island’s airport.
Angola is currently Africa’s largest oil producer, and pumps about two million barrels of oil a day.
In London recently delegates to the International Petroleum Week conference heard that the current economic climate meant that Africa’s existing ports would have to handle increases in oil and gas production across the continent.
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