Page 6 - AfrOil Week 33

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

The assets are also understood to include stor- while it lacked the will or the funds to renation-
age facilities and interests in distribution and alise the plant.
marketing. The refinery is located at Moham-
media, 40 km north of Casablanca. Poor management
Following offers from trading special- Indeed, nationalisation was effectively ruled out
ists Glencore ($14.99mn) and Trafigura in early 2018, when Energy, Mining and Sustain-
($11.70mn), the Moroccan subsidiary of able Development Minister Aziz Rabbah said:
UK-based Exol Lubricants was reported to have “Either it finds a buyer or it will be permanently
submitted an offer of $8.23mn in June 2019, closed.” However, interest in state ownership has
undercutting all earlier bids. since returned.
Each of these were a far cry from the admin- Amid strong pressure from employee rep-
istrator’s initial asset valuation of $2.5-3bn, and resentatives to ensure that refining operations
did not go down well with the parties involved in continue at the site, the head of the Moroccan
the liquidation process, with local media reports Competition Council (MCC), Driss Guerraoui,
suggesting they had been viewed as “too low” said early last year that “prior to its shutdown
and “below market standards.” in August 2015, SAMIR supplied the domestic
Creditors owed part of SAMIR’s debt have market with 64% of its refined product needs
been queuing up to have their claims validated […] the national refinery therefore played a fun-
by the courts in order to secure a slice of the pro- damental role in supply, but also in storage, as it
ceeds from the sell-off. accounted for more than 50% of the country’s
“
On July 31, 2018, the Casablanca Commer- storage capacity, which safeguarded our country
cial Court of Appeal ruled that the local Banque from any future shortages.”
Centrale Populaire (BCP) – a major lender to The council then advocated for the refin- Morocco
the company – had obtained valid guarantees ery’s nationalisation to ensure sovereignty and
against lending of 1.25bn Moroccan dirhams to balance supply and demand. Meanwhile, has adapted
($132mn) of debt, out of total borrowings from the new head of the MCC said that “preserving
the bank of around 2.9bn dirhams ($307mn). the national refinery will require bold political smoothly to full
BCP thereby secured a place as a senior cred- decision-making”.
itor, with privileged claims on liquidated assets. dependence on
A month earlier Glencore – another major cred- An offer emerges fuel imports since
itor – had a claim of 2.2bn dirhams ($233mn) Finally, in September 2019, an offer of $2.4bn
validated. was submitted by UAE-based Petroen Engi- the closure of
Meanwhile, on July 26, the court in Moham- neering following a lengthy Moroccan media
media ruled in favour of the state’s customs campaign. Mohammedia
authority and convicted SAMIR of foreign Despite the huge mark-up, however, Petroen
exchange violations – imposing a penalty of was willing to agree to and no others having
18bn dirhams ($1.9bn). been received that were on a par with it, nearly
Meanwhile, the trustees continued their a year later a final deal has failed to materialise,
efforts to find a buyer, but prospective investors and the fate of SAMIR remains up in the air.
were deterred by onerous bidding conditions, in According to The Africa Report, the judge
particular by the need to provide local financial assigned to the case is taking his time to exam-
guarantees. ine the offer.
Morocco has adapted smoothly to full Meanwhile, NewsBase understands that the
dependence on fuel imports since the closure of price and duration of the lease for the storage
Mohammedia but Rabat has been under strong units is still being negotiated. The lease of the
pressure from trade unions and other lobby storage tanks will increase the country’s inven-
groups to ensure the resumption of operations tory from 30 days to 90 days.

The Samir plant is Morocco’s only oil refinery (Photo: Samir)

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 19•August•2020