Page 7 - AfrOil Week 11 2022

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

As of Monday (March 14), it was not clear
whether they had carried out that threat. Clo-
sure of the terminals would have an immediate
impact on Libyan production and exports, as
the Oil Crescent is home to several major ter-
minals, including facilities at Brega, Ras Lanuf,
Sidra and Zueitina.
Most residents of the Oil Crescent favour
the new government that was appointed earlier
this year by Libya’s House of Representatives
and headed by Prime Minister-designate Fathi
Bashagha. This faction is also backed by Khalifa
Haftar, the head of the Libyan National Army
(LNA), a powerful armed group that controls
much of the eastern part of the country, includ- The Oil Crescent is home to several of Libya’s main oil export terminals (Image: EIA)
ing the four oil terminals mentioned above.
However, the GNU, which is headed by the two would-be prime ministers meet to nego-
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, still tiate a solution. Dbeibah and his rival have both
holds the capital, Tripoli. According to Asharq responded positively to calls for constructive
Al-Awsat, residents of the Oil Crescent are hop- dialogue, she said.
ing to see Dbeibah ousted from power and to Williams was speaking the day after Mustafa
convince the international community to recog- Sanalla, the head of Libya’s National Oil Corp.
nise the new government headed by Bashagha. (NOC), met with US State Department officials
They said in a statement published on March in Washington to discuss the country’s crude
11 that Libya’s current political crisis could be production plans and energy development
resolved through presidential and parliamen- strategy.
tary elections, as well as the adoption of a new Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Joey
constitution. Hood said in a statement after the meeting that
Bashagha recently sought to enter Tripoli to he had made clear the US government’s support
assume his post but failed to do so. Stephanie for NOC’s policy of remaining neutral – that is,
Williams, the UN special advisor on Libya, told “independent” – in the struggle between armed
Bloomberg on March 11 that she had suggested factions. ™

INVESTMENT
FAR Ltd to exit Guinea-Bissau project

GUINEA-BISSAU AUSTRALIA’S FAR Ltd has announced its
intention of withdrawing from the Esperanca
Blocks 4A and 5A and Sinapa Block 2, located
offshore Guinea-Bissau.
FAR said in a statement dated March 15 it
had informed both the government of Guin-
ea-Bissau and Petronor (Norway), the operator
of the blocks, of its plans, in line with the agree-
ments covering the licence areas.
It also explained its decision to withdraw
by noting that its joint efforts with Petronor
to bring another investor on board through a
farm-in deal had not been successful.
FAR went on to say that it did not expect to
incur any new material expenses as a result of
its withdrawal Esperanca Blocks 4A and 5A and
Sinapa Block 2, since it had already met its mini- The three blocks are located in the Casamance sub-basin (Image: FAR Ltd)
mum financial commitments to the licences and
had not made any commitments for this year. It $13mn, as well as its contingent withholding tax
also noted that it had impaired $2.7mn of cap- liability of $568,000 related to the Guinea-Bissau
italised costs associated with the project in the project, the statement said.
last calendar year. Under the agreements governing the pro-
Withdrawal will also eliminate FAR’s pre- ject, these liabilities only come into play if the
viously disclosed contingent liability of up to offshore blocks reach the development stage.

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