Page 12 - AfrOil Week 01 2020

AfrOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrOil
TRANSPORTATION
Libya’s NOC considers
halting operations in
Zawiyaportandevacuating
refinery after new attacks
National Oil Corp. (NOC) has warned that operations in Zawiya port may be halted and the refinery evacuated after renewed attacks around the facilities. This could lead to production also being halted at the Sharara field, which exports its crude oil and its derivatives through Zawiya.
On Saturday, December 28, 2019, sites adja- cent to the oil storage areas operated by Zawiya refinery were hit by air strikes. This was the third attack in near proximity to the facilities in the last 48 hours. NOC and its subsidiaries, includ- ing Akakus, Brega Petroleum Marketing Co. (BPMC) and Zawiya Oil Refining Co., along with international partners, have held emer- gency talks to assess the situation.
NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said: “Halt- ing operations at Zawiya will reduce Libyan oil production by at least 300,000 barrels a day and will mean it might not be possible for fuel to be refined at the Zawiya refinery. This fuel will need to be imported instead, which will lead to losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars at a time [when] the Libyan economy is suffering.”
He added: “We make every effort to keep Libyan oil and gas production going, despite many challenges, but we cannot operate facili- ties if there is a risk to the lives of our produc- tion teams and local people. If the attacks do not stop, we will be forced to halt all operations and declare force majeure on exports from Zawiya port, including from the oilfields that pump to
Zawiya, such as the Sharara oilfield.”
NOC, December 28 2019
SERVICES
ShearwaterGeoServices
awarded Gambia 3D
seismic project by FAR
Shearwater GeoServices has been awarded a 3D Isometrix seismic acquisition project by FAR Gambia. The one-month survey will cover parts of Block A5 offshore Gambia in the rap- idly emerging and prolific Mauritania-Sene- gal-Gambia-Guinea Bissau-Conakry (MSGBC) Basin. It will be acquired by the SW Amundsen and provide new seismic over a shallow-water area and connect with existing seismic to pro- vide full coverage of the A5 Block.
“We are excited to be working offshore the Gambia for FAR and for the first time provide high quality Isometrix multi-sensor data for this area,” said Irene Waage Basili, the CEO of Shear- water GeoServices. “This will be our second pro- ject in the MSGBC Basin this year after working at the world-class Sangomar field directly to the north.”
Shearwater GeoServices, January 07 2020
PERFORMANCE
NNPC posts trading surplus in October
Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) has announced a trading surplus of NGN13.23bn in
October 2019, representing an increase of 54% vis-à-vis the NGN8.59bn surplus posted in Sep- tember last year.
The NNPC, in a release signed by its Acting Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Samson Makoji, explained that the fig- ures contained in the recently released October 2019 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) reflect the sus- tained streak of positive results in the operations of the national oil company.
To underline the increasing fortunes of the corporation in recent times, the September 2019 trading surplus of NGN8.59bn in turn indicated a significant increase of 65% compared to the NGN5.20bn surplus posted in August 2019, even as that beat the NGN4.26bn surplus posted in July 2019, reflecting an increase of 22%.
The NNPC said the increase of 54% trading surplus in October 2019 accounts of the cor- poration was mostly attributable to improved trading surplus posted by its flagship upstream subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development Co. (NPDC).
The 51st edition of the MFOR stated a total crude oil and natural gas export sales of $483.25mn in October 2019; which is an increase of 35.77% compared to the previous month, implying that in the month under review, crude oil export sales contributed $396.94mn (82.14%) of the dollar transactions, compared with $267.97mn contribution in September 2019, even as the export gas sales for the month amounted to $86.32mn.
Overall, the October 2018 to October 2019 crude oil and gas transactions indicated that crude oil & gas worth $5.49bn was exported.
In the downstream sector, to ensure sustained PMS supply and effective distribution across the country, 1.16bn litres of PMS, translating to 37.30mn litres per day, were supplied for the month.
NNPC stated in the monthly report that it had continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of premium motor spirit (PMS), other- wise called petrol, in order to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue nationwide.
The report said that in October 2019, 35 van- dalised-pipeline points, representing a decrease of 81% from the 186 vandalised-points in Sep- tember 2019, were recorded. Out of the vandal- ised points, eight failed to be welded, while only one pipeline was ruptured, with the Ibadan-Il- orin axis accounting for 34% of the breaks, while ATC-Mosimi and other routes accounted for 23% and 43%, respectively.
In the gas sector, out of the 235.82bn cubic feet (bcf ) of gas supplied in October 2019, a total of 134.97 bcf of gas was commercialised, consist- ing of 31.37 bcf and 103.60 bcf for the domestic and export market, respectively.
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Week 01 08•January•2020