01 June 2005
Morocco - The sole Moroccan oil refinery, SAMIR, announced on Tuesday that it has granted a 490 million euros contract to a foreign consortium to upgrade its Mohammedia-based refinery. The new contract is in line with the convention signed Dec. 20, 2004, with the Moroccan government which calls for an investment of more than MAD 6 billion (USD 721 million) to extend the refinery. Operations of the new production facility are slated for 2008.
The company, whose refinery was damaged in Nov. 2002 by a fire, said in a communiqu that the contract has been awarded to a consortium made up of the Italian Snaprogetti and Tekfen of Turkey. It added that the project will help secure the country's crude oil sourcing and better safeguard the environment.
The facilities sited in Mohammedia, 70 km south-west of Rabat, will also increase the efficiency of the refinery and the company's competitiveness to get ready for the total liberalization of the sector scheduled for 2009. In 1996, and in accordance with the privatization strategy of the Moroccan government, SAMIR was IPOed in the Casablanca Stock Exchange. A 60.99% equity stake of the company was sold in May 1997 to Saudi-Swedish Corral Petroleum for MAD 3,157.5 million. The company bought an additional 5.77% in June 1998 for MAD 296.1 million.
A 30% stake of the MAD 5 billion market-cap company was listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, bringing in MAD 1,504.8 million to the government coffers. The news announcement had a positive effect on the company's stock in Casablanca on Tuesday. It gained 2.29% to MAD 419.9 in a volume of 4,325 shares.
Morocco - The sole Moroccan oil refinery, SAMIR, announced on Tuesday that it has granted a 490 million euros contract to a foreign consortium to upgrade its Mohammedia-based refinery. The new contract is in line with the convention signed Dec. 20, 2004, with the Moroccan government which calls for an investment of more than MAD 6 billion (USD 721 million) to extend the refinery. Operations of the new production facility are slated for 2008.
The company, whose refinery was damaged in Nov. 2002 by a fire, said in a communiqu that the contract has been awarded to a consortium made up of the Italian Snaprogetti and Tekfen of Turkey. It added that the project will help secure the country's crude oil sourcing and better safeguard the environment.
The facilities sited in Mohammedia, 70 km south-west of Rabat, will also increase the efficiency of the refinery and the company's competitiveness to get ready for the total liberalization of the sector scheduled for 2009. In 1996, and in accordance with the privatization strategy of the Moroccan government, SAMIR was IPOed in the Casablanca Stock Exchange. A 60.99% equity stake of the company was sold in May 1997 to Saudi-Swedish Corral Petroleum for MAD 3,157.5 million. The company bought an additional 5.77% in June 1998 for MAD 296.1 million.
A 30% stake of the MAD 5 billion market-cap company was listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, bringing in MAD 1,504.8 million to the government coffers. The news announcement had a positive effect on the company's stock in Casablanca on Tuesday. It gained 2.29% to MAD 419.9 in a volume of 4,325 shares.
© Morocco Times 2005
