Morocco's Societe Anonyme Marocaine de l'Industrie du Raffinage (SAMIR) will halt production at its 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) Mohammedia refinery due to financial difficulties, the company said in a statement.
The refinery is awaiting delivery of two cargoes of 2 million barrels of crude oil, scheduled to arrive between Aug. 15 and 18, and will stop production after processing them.
It said it will continue to supply oil products until its stocks run out.
As Morocco's only refinery, its closure would make the country entirely reliant on imports to feed its fuel needs. At just under 300,000 bpd in petroleum consumption, it is Africa's fifth largest oil consumer, according to the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
According to a statement on its website from April, SAMIR had secured financing of close to $600 million earlier this year from international institutions including U.S. private equity giant Carlyle Group and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation.
The refinery added a new crude distillation unit in 2012.
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