The government of Dubai has signed an early agreement with Angolan and Chinese investors to build a refinery in the emirate to meet growing fuel demand.

Dubai agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Sonangol, a joint venture of Angola’s state oil producer Sonangol and Hong Kong-based New Bright International

A consortium will be created to oversee the front-end engineering and design (feed), greenfield project financing and process flow management, according to the state-run, according to Emirates News Agency (Wam).

The refinery will process crude for domestic use and exports to international markets.

The only refining operation in Dubai at present is the 120,000-barrel-a-day (b/d) Jebel Ali condensate refinery, with most UAE downstream capacity located in Abu Dhabi.