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upstream projects that carried high production in the first quarter of 2022.
costs. Currently, he said, expenses related to In other news, Nigeria has signed a memo-
direct handling, human resources and logistics randum of understanding (MoU) on potentially
account for 70% of NNPC’s production costs, obtaining petroleum product supplies from
while the remaining 30% covers expenses related neighbouring Niger.
to administration, direct lifting, production Nigeria’s petroleum ministry said the
maintenance, security and service management. non-binding accord covered the transportation
and storage of oil products. Talks on this subject
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping have been ongoing for four months between
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for Nigeria’s state-owned NNPC and its counterpart
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. in Niger, SONIDEP.
Niger’s 20,000 bpd Soraz refinery is situated
DMEA: Iraq invites bids for refinery in Zinder, some 260 km from the Nigerian bor-
Iraq is eager to build out its refining sector to der. According to the ministry, Niger’s domestic
wean itself off fuel imports, but the OPEC pro- fuel demand is only 5,000 bpd, leaving a surplus
ducer’s dire fiscal straits mean it needs interna- of 15,000 bpd of capacity available for export.
tional investment to take projects forward.
Oil Minister Ihsan Ismaael announced on If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
November 18 that the government intended to the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
invite international firms to bid for the construc- then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
tion of a 300,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in
its south. The new refinery will be erected in the Europe: Norway launches new investor call
port of al-Faw in the Basra governorate, under a The main news in the European oil industry
build operate transfer (BOT) or build own oper- this week is Norway’s launch of its 25th frontier
ate transfer (BOOT) investment model, Ismaael licensing round, aimed at driving forward explo-
said. Petrochemicals production would be added ration in relatively unexplored regions.
to the facility at a later stage. Authorities have invited firms to bid for 136
Iraq signed a contract for the project with new exploration blocks in eight frontier zones in
Chinese companies PowerChina and Norinco the Barents Sea and one zone in the Norwegian
International in 2018, but that deal fell through. Sea. Companies have until February 23 2021 to
The Iraqi government aims to boost national file their bids, and awards should occur the fol-
throughput capacity to around 910,000 bpd by lowing month.
early 2022, thanks to two key projects. Unlike Norway’s annual awards in predefined
In September Ismaael ordered the capacity areas (APA) rounds, which seek operators for
of the Sumood refinery in Baiji to be raised from blocks in mature areas of the shelf, its numbered
75,000 bpd to 140,000 bpd in a matter of months. rounds occur at less regular intervals in areas
The facility was damaged during the ISIS invasion where infrastructure is scarcer and drilling risks
and occupation, and again when it was retaken by greater. But wells can also yield potentially large
Iraqi forces. Sumood’s capacity is expected to be discoveries.
restored to 280,000 bpd within two years, making The round’s launch comes less than a week
it once again the country’s biggest oil refinery. after the country’s Supreme Court finished
Iraq also hopes to bring the 140,000 bpd Kar- hearing a case brought by environmentalists
bala refinery south-west of Baghdad on stream that disputes the previous award of acreage in the

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 47 26•November•2020