Equatorial Guinea will build its own oil refinery, Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue announced on 15 October at a crisis meeting with the fuel distributors Gepetrol Servicios, TotalEnergies and Tradex. Experts are due next month to study the project, with work set to start in 2027; the state will also spend $20 million so that Gepetrol can buy and store enough fuel for three to six months. The meeting followed the second fuel shortage in less than four months, for which the government fined the local TotalEnergies unit about $1.7 million and Tradex about $855,000. Local refining and state reserves would move fuel supply away from shipments handled by private distributors and towards the state company.