Washington, D.C., December 4, 2013
— IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Société Générale have co-arranged a $300 million facility for Cote d’Ivoire’s only oil refinery that will help guarantee a steady supply of critical energy imports for the country and its landlocked neighbors.
IFC and Société Générale will each participate with up to $100 million in the facility for Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR), which supplies effectively all of the refined petroleum products in Cote d’Ivoire as well as Burkina Faso, Mali, and other countries in western Africa. BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered Bank will also participate in the financing.
The structured trade facility will finance around $2 billion of oil imports over the next two years helping prevent interruptions in the fuel supply that could have a negative effect on Côte d’Ivoire and its redevelopment. By helping stabilize the regional energy supply, IFC and its partners believe this facility may help mitigate price spikes that drive up costs for both businesses and households and often have the most adverse effects on the poorest. The financing will also help SIR to regain access to the international financial markets.
“SIR’s production touches the lives of millions of people by providing them with energy for their homes and businesses and gasoline for their trucks to get products to market,” said Georgina Baker, IFC Director for Global Trade and Supply Chain Solutions. “This facility will ensure that the company continues to provide the refined fuel essential for day-to-day life and commerce in West Africa.”
"Société Générale is delighted by yet another example of cooperation in Africa with our partners at the IFC in this new key financing line for the SIR, a long standing relationship of the Group through Société Générale de Banques en Côte d'Ivoire and Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking,” said Federico Turegano, Global Head of the Natural Resources and Energy Financing group at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking.
IFC will also work with the refinery to further review its environmental standards in line with international best practices, to help restore the strong performance it enjoyed before the conflict.
The initiative is an evolution of IFC’s Critical Commodity Finance Program, launched in 2012 to facilitate imports of energy-related goods in the world’s poorest countries. Total commodity trade supported by the CCFP facilities has exceeded $9 billion, with 60 percent reaching Africa. A similar facility signed last year in Mauritania has financed 500,000 tons of fuel imports.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. Working with private enterprises in more than 100 countries, we use our capital,expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. In FY13, our investments climbed to an all-time high of nearly $25 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
Stay Connected
