Global specialty chemicals company Clariant has opened two facilities in Soyo and Viana to bring a wide range of technical and operational capabilities in Angola
Mark Swift, head of oil services Africa, said, “This base is of strategic importance to Clariant in Angola and makes a statement that we are ambitious and determined to grow the business in this area.”
The facility in the Kwanda Base, near Soyo, is located at the mouth of the Congo River on Kwanda Island, a site designed to provide logistical support for oil and gas operations. To fulfill the QC requirements for chemical supply, the laboratory is fully equipped with all conventional methodologies, as well as state-of-the-art infrared spectroscopy.
The 3400 sq m complex also comprises offices and a covered warehouse with decanting and filtering equipment, and the processing capacity is expected to reach up to 1000 tonnes per month.
The Soyo facility was preceded by a warehouse and laboratory complex in Viana, near Luanda, which was commissioned and designed to support business expansion in the oil and gas industry in Angola. The technical capabilities onsite include equipment to test demulsifiers, deoilers, oil, and other oil-related products. For QC, the laboratory can assess appearance, pH, specific gravity, viscosity, FT-IR fingerprinting, particle counts and non-volatile residuals, among other analyses.
Clariant considers safety and sustainability to be of the utmost importance and both sites have been designed in line with the stringent corporate standards expected on all Clariant sites. Materials have been sourced locally where possible, which is also a Clariant prerequisite for now and the future. In addition, the laboratories are designed to ensure the careful segregation of oil waste for recycling or appropriate disposal.
