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Nigeria cleared one key milestone in July, to create acetic acid, methyl tertiary-butyl ether,
though when it broke ground on the 614-km biodiesel and olefins. Ammonia is mostly used
Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline. The pro- in fertilisers.
ject will carry 36.2 bcm per year of gas, some The Brass project will use gas supplied by
of which will be used at new domestic thermal Royal Dutch Shell. It will rely on technology
power plants (TPPs). provided by Denmark’s Haldor Topsoe to make
Methanol is used to produce many other the methanol, which will be sold to BP under a
chemicals and solvents. Among its main uses is 10-year contract.
manufacturing formaldehyde, used in plastics, Ammonia will be marketed through US
paints, textiles, pigments and dyes. It is also used trader Trammo.
Equinor takes $982mn write-down at TLNG
TANZANIA NORWAY’S Equinor has taken a $982mn write- Equinor’s journey in Tanzania began in 2007,
down charge at its long-delayed Tanzania LNG when it signed a production-sharing agreement
(TLNG) project after judging it to be uncompet- (PSA) to develop the offshore Block 2. It began
itive, the company reported on January 29. drilling in 2011 and to date has made nine gas
Equinor has been trying to get TLNG off discoveries containing 20 trillion cubic feet
the ground for years, but has been unable to (566bn cubic metres) of gas.
do because of regulatory delays and difficulties The company wants to use this resource to
agreeing investment terms with the Tanzanian underpin a 7.5mn tonne per year (tpy) LNG
government. export terminal.
“While progress has been made in recent Equinor operates the project with a 65%
years on the commercial framework for TLNG, position. ExxonMobil, its partner, holds the
overall project economies have not yet improved remaining interest but is yet to book a write-
sufficiently to justify keeping it on the balance down charge.
sheet,” Equinor explained. “The TLNG project The TLNG finds are situated 100 km off-
has an anticipated breakeven price well above shore in waters 2,500 metres deep. Equinor has
the portfolio average for Equinor and is, at this complained in the past of “large underwater
time, not competitive within this portfolio.” canyons” that make offshore work challenging.
The write-down will be counted in Equinor’s The plan is to run a subsea pipeline from the dis-
fourth-quarter results. The company said it coveries to onshore facilities north of Lindi. The
would continue negotiations with Tanzania, bulk of the gas would be liquefied and exported,
holding out hope that commercial, fiscal and but 10% would also be supplied to the domestic
legal terms can be worked out that would make market.
the project viable. Tanzania’s The Citizen news- Equinor’s investments in Tanzania have
paper reported in December that talks between exceeded $2bn. The company revealed in its
Equinor and the government had resumed after 2019 annual report that its licence for the area
a year-long delay. had expired, but talks continued.
TLNG will use gas from deepwater offshore fields (Image: Equinor)
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 03•February•2021
