CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Angola signs preliminary power project agreement with Trafigura and Promarks

(Corrects to fix typo in headline)

July 4 (Reuters) - Angola has signed a preliminary agreement to develop a regional power transmission and supply project with Trafigura and engineering company Promarks, commodities trader Trafigura said in a statement on Thursday.

The project under consideration is a 2,000 megawatt high-voltage electricity transmission line to take power produced by hydroelectric dams in the north of Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) copper belt and Zambia, integrating with the Southern Africa Power Pool, Trafigura said.

The project is to be financed through a combination of equity capital and third-party debt, Trafigura said, adding the joint venture that will be formed between ProMarks and Trafigura would construct and operate the transmission line.

"We see that the demand for power is significantly increasing across the copper belt region where mining activities are growing and are being supported by the logistics provided by the Lobito Atlantic Railway," said Julien Rolland, head of strategic project and investments for Trafigura.

Lobito Atlantic Railway links resource-rich DRC to the port of Lobito in Angola to bypass road congestion and avoid long delays on the copper and cobalt route.

The upgraded railway should be able to carry 1.7 million tonnes of metal annually from 2028, much of it to be used in the global energy transition away from fossil fuels. (Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by David Goodman and David Holmes)