Morocco's Societe Anonyme Marocaine de l'Industrie du Raffinage (SAMIR) is reportedly planning to suspend operations at its 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery located in the port city of Mohammedia.
Citing a company statement, Reuters reported that decision to stop production at the country’s only refinery was driven by financial constraints, and will make the country to depend on imports to meet its fuel demands
Production at Mohammedia refinery is scheduled to be seized following processing of two cargoes of 2 million barrels of crude oil which are planned to arrive between 15 and 18 of this month.
However, the supply of oil products is scheduled to continue until the availability of stocks.
The company reportedly integrated new crude distillation unit at the refinery in 2012.
In April this year, the company secured $600m financing from international institutions including US private equity giant Carlyle Group and the International Islamic Trade Finance.
According to the US Energy Information Administration data, Morocco’s petroleum demand currently stands at 300,000 bpd, making it the fifth largest oil consumer in Africa.
SAMIR operates in two sites, Mohammedia, and Sidi-Kacem, which have a combined storage capacity of 2 million m³ and refining capacity of 150,000 barrels/day.