  Côte d’Ivoire signed an MoU with Yaatra Ventures to build a second oil refinery in partnership with SIR.

  The project is valued at over CFA3,000 billion ($5.1 billion) and aims to double national refining capacity.

  Additional MoUs were signed with U.S. firms for oil block development and renewable energy investment.

Côte d’Ivoire has signed a memorandum of understanding with American company Yaatra Ventures for the construction of a second oil refinery in partnership with the Société ivoirienne de raffinerie (SIR), a move intended to enhance its status as an exporter of refined petroleum products to other West African nations. The investment is projected to exceed CFA3,000 billion ($5.1 billion).

At the signing of the agreement, the Ivorian Minister of Mines, Petroleum, and Energy, Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, emphasized the country’s need to double refining capacities. The two firms are expected to collaborate in mobilizing resources for the construction of the new refinery.

The signed agreement with Yaatra Ventures, a firm specializing in energy and infrastructure projects, comes only weeks after a delegation of Ivorian officials led by the Mines Minister visited the United States.

Raphael Souanga, SIR’s Director of Development and Energy Transition, revealed in April that the state-run firm plans to build a new refinery capable of handling 170,000 barrels per day. Currently, Côte d’Ivoire hosts a refinery with a 100,000-barrel-per-day capacity, renowned as one of the most efficient factories in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition to this significant agreement with Yaatra Ventures, Côte d’Ivoire inked two other memoranda of understanding with American businesses during the American Chamber of Commerce business summit in Abidjan. One involves the extraction of two oil blocks by the national oil company Petroci in partnership with American firm Valco Energy Systems. The other is a memorandum of understanding signed with Sun Africa, a US-based solar company, aiming to help Côte d’Ivoire raise CFA700 billion for the development of renewable energy and optimization of the national electricity grid.