LUSAKA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - French oil giant, Total plans to sell its 50 percent shareholding in Zambia's sole oil refinery to the Zambian government by the end of this year, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Zambia's sole 24,000 barrel-per-day Indeni Petroleum Refinery has suffered sudden breakdowns of the old machinery at the 36-year-old plant.
Owing to a collapse of a key refinery component at Indeni, Zambia has been experiencing acute fuel shortage in the last two weeks, threatening to halt the economic wheels of Africa's largest copper producer.
The refinery was closed for maintenance last Thursday, and plans to re-open in the first week of November.
Peter Mumba, permanent secretary in the ministry of energy said the negotiations between Zambia and Total were expected to be concluded by the end of this year.
Mumba did not disclose the transaction cost for the transfer of Total's equity to the Zambian government.
"We have been going to France, they come to Zambia and we should be concluding the discussions any time from now, much earlier than the end of this year," Mumba told Reuters.
Indeni Petroleum Refinery is 50 percent each jointly owned by Total El Fina EIF and the Zambia government and latest market estimates indicate that the refinery needs $65 million for recapitalization.
Total last year told Zambia government its intentions to sell to another company but authorities in the Southern African country objected and opted to fully own the refinery.
Mumba said the withdrawal of Total would not affect the supply of oil to the country.
"We took over the role of sole supplier of the country's crude oil more than two years ago and there have been no serious problems with regard to the supply of feed stock for the refinery," Mumba said. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com)