Cote d’Ivoire: SMB Sees Sharp Profit Drop On Maintenance Halt, Oil Price Surge

SMB, the Abidjan bitumen refiner, saw profit fall 45% in the first quarter of 2026 to 1.49 billion FCFA ($2.7 million) from 2.71 billion FCFA ($4.9 million) a year earlier — a result shaped by two distinct events that arrived simultaneously and reinforced each other.

The first was planned: SMB carried out a mandatory quinquennial maintenance shutdown of its refining units in February and March, the first such overhaul in five years. That halt reduced crude oil processing and cut bitumen…