Page 17 - DMEA Week 03 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

NNPC attracts 96 bids for

pipeline rehabilitation

NIGERIA NIGERIAN National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) the refineries’ downstream infrastructure in
has attracted bids from 96 companies for the August 2020. The pipelines have suffered from
NNPC is offering the rehabilitation of pipelines and depots that serve years of what the company has described as
work in four lots. its oil refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port “incessant” oil theft and vandalism.
Harcourt. The work is being offered in four lots: Lot 1
The national oil company (NOC) is mak- covers infrastructure around Bonny and Port
ing another attempt to repair and modernise Harcourt, including a 210-km products pipe-
its refineries, after a number of unsuccessful line; Lot 2, meanwhile, relates to facilities around
efforts over the years. It is reportedly negotiat- Escravos and Warri; Lot 3 is for infrastructure
ing a $1bn prepayment deal with trading firms in Kaduna and Kano, including a 604-km oil
to raise funds to revamp the largest of the plants, pipeline from Warri to Kaduna, while Lot 4 is
a 210,000 barrel per day (bpd) facility in Port for work in the Atlas Cove and Mosimi areas.
Harcourt. The bidders will be required to fund the
The company has held a virtual public open- repairs themselves and operate the pipelines for a
ing round for companies pre-qualifying for the period so that they can recoup their investments.
work, it said last week, noting that the bidders In that time, they will also receive oil transit fees.
hailed from a number of jurisdictions. Companies can bid for two of the lots but can
NNPC launched a tender for rehabilitating only be selected for one. ™

Fire engulf tankers at Syria’s

Homs refinery

SYRIA A major oil fire broke out at an oil depot at Syria’s months. The Russian air force has assisted the
Homs oil refinery on January 19, spreading to a government by bombing suspected hideouts of
Seven tankers caught number of oil tankers, according to state media. militants in the region in recent weeks.
fire. The cause of the fire is unclear, although it The Homs refinery and Syria’s other main
engulfed seven tankers while they were unload- refinery in Banias on the Mediterranean coast
ing oil, according to Syrian Oil Minister Bassam are both struggling to obtain enough oil to
Touma. The incident comes as Syria struggles meet the country’s needs. Iranian supplies have
with serious fuels shortages. Homs is the coun- been unreliable because of sanctions, and most
try’s main refinery, with a processing capacity of domestic fields are controlled by the US-backed
120,000 barrels per day (bpd). Syrian Democratic Force (SDF).
“The company and the refinery are fine,” Syria has had to ration gasoline and other
Touma told state media. fuels following months of shortages. ™
The fire was extinguished by civil defence
teams later that day, the Homs governor, Bassam
Barsik, said. “There are no human casualties and
we are working on containing the spread of the
fire,” he said.
The government has been quick to blame for-
eign-backed “terrorists” for such incidents in the
past. But it did not say whether the latest blast
was the result of an attack.
While violence has subsided in recent years,
attacks by insurgents and rebels on govern-
ment-run oil and gas installations are still rou-
tine. Islamic State militants have been scaling up
hit-and-run attacks in the Homs area in recent

Week 03 21•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P17