LUANDA, Feb 25 – Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned oil firm, is in talks with Chinese financial institutions to secure a $4.8 billion loan to help finance the construction of a major new refinery in the Atlantic port city of Lobito.
If completed, the transaction would mark Angola’s first borrowing from China since 2017, when the country began scaling back its reliance on oil-backed financing arrangements to reduce exposure to commodity-linked debt risks.
While the company did not disclose the specific lenders involved, Angola’s finance ministry previously indicated that the financing could come from the China Development Bank, one of China’s primary overseas infrastructure financiers.
Unlike previous resource-backed loans common in Angola’s oil sector, Sonangol said the proposed financing would not require crude oil as collateral, signalling a shift toward more conventional lending structures.
The Lobito refinery has been designated a strategic national project by the Angolan government and is expected to begin producing refined petroleum products by December next year. The facility is intended to strengthen domestic refining capacity, reduce reliance on imported fuel, and improve energy security.
The planned investment reflects broader efforts by Angola to expand its downstream petroleum infrastructure, capture more value from its oil resources, and position itself as a regional refining hub.
