Calls rise to reactivate Morocco’s only refinery as oil prices soar
Activists and opposition parties are calling for Morocco’s SAMIR oil plant to be brought back online after a seven-year hiatus to alleviate fossil fuel import pressure and enhance energy sovereignty.
Morocco currently imports 90% of its energy, and rising fossil fuel prices are increasing the calls to reopen the kingdom’s sole oil refinery.
The Société Anonyme Marocaine de l’Industrie du Raffinage (SAMIR) opened in 1959 as a joint venture between the Moroccan state and Italian energy giant ENI.
In 1997, the plant was privatized, with majority control going to the Saudi-Swedish owned Corral Petroleum Holdings. The refinery ceased operation in 2015 due to financial difficulties. SAMIR occupies 300 hectares on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, a few miles north of Casablanca, and can refine up to 10 million tons annually.
“The privatization of the refinery was a mistake,” said the president of the National Front to Safeguard the Moroccan Petrol Refinery (FNSRMP), El Houssine El Yamani. The organization’s aim is to reactivate the plant, to positively affect fossil energy prices.
