PARRAS24: SONARA GM flags off in-depth inspections work by experts.

The plan to last 24 months, involves in-depth inspections of the facility and equipment from some internationally reputed companies. This phase will focus on 17% of the equipment of the facilities that were judged to have potential of being recoverable. 

The first inspection had indicated that 75% of the destroyed facilities can be recovered, 17% with the potential to be recovered, while 8% were rejected following the preliminary inspections.

At the close of his visit of the facilities that were impacted by the 2019 fires in prelude to the work of in-depth inspections, El Hadj Bako Harouna, expressed satisfaction that vast majority of the equipment are indeed recoverable, according to the experts. 

In this light, he said PARRAS24 was the right solution to ensure the company can go back to its pre-disaster production levels.  

Harouna stressed that the in-depth inspections were a follow up to work his expert collaborators conducted a few moments ago, which further confirmed their conclusions regarding the resilience of the main equipment, contrary to what everyone thought after the disaster. The positive results, he said, stresses the need to restart the refinery, “which is the pride of all of us”.

The detailed inspection was expected to run for six weeks, but it will be compressed to last not more than four weeks, because the General Manager and his collaborators expect works to round up early to ensure SONARA restarts production. 

The 17% equipment with the potential of being recovered will be evaluated by the experts to determine which equipment can be used for further reconstruction of the facilities. 

It will also guide the engineering company that will reconstruct or destroy bad equipment to define their dismantling methodology as well as know the equipment recommended.

SONARA staff enthusiastic about PARRAS24

Speaking to the press after the visit, El Hadj Bako Harouna, said everyone at SONARA was enthusiastic to get involved with PARRAS24. 

“…with God's help and everyone's participation, we will meet this major challenge, namely the restoration of our energy sovereignty through the rapid return to production of our refinery, so dear to the President of the Republic, His Excellency Paul Biya,” he said.

On his part, Metutu Wilson, Chief of Service for Research and Development, said the company had about thirty experts on the site to ensure that the detailed inspection of units is a success.

The experts have been mobilised to start. The detailed inspection is like a control that they are going to carry out on 17% of the equipment to see if some of them can be recovered or rejected.

Daouda Diop from EKIUM, one of the companies involved in the in-depth evaluation, explained that during the first phase of the external inspection of the equipment of SONARA, the equipment were categorised into those that can be recovered, those with potential to be recovered and those that cannot be recovered. This phase, he added, now will help them determine which can be destroyed or maintained.

Meanwhile, Abel Mbock Balotoken, President and Director General of Layher, a company specialised in scaffolding and involved in the inspections, said his company is coming with the latest generation of skills in scaffolding to ensure that if there is another fire in SONARA, materials that can easily get flames will be reinforced to increase their resistance.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3567 of Wednesday September 17, 2025