Page 7 - AfrOil Week 33

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Legal case foreigners, Rabat will struggle to enforce the
With court rulings determining that the com- ruling beyond banning them from doing any
pany failed because of poor management, business in Morocco for five years.
Al-Amoudi has maintained that the closure
was the fault of the Moroccan authorities. History repeating
Al-Amoudi filed a complaint against Rabat For Moroccans weary of the SAMIR saga, talk
with the International Center for Settlement of of a new investor and a new refinery will surely
Investment Disputes (ICSID) in early 2018 and hold great appeal.
in April 2019 claimed that he the government VEB signed a memorandum on the new
owed him $1.5bn in compensation for the fail- 100,000 bpd unit with the Russian Export Group
ure of SAMIR. and local firm MYA Energy, which is part of the
These uncertainties do little to attract poten- Marita Group, during a Russia-Africa Summit.
tial investors, particularly given the strict terms However, any optimism should be tempered
of the sale, which include restarting the refinery by a brief history of Morocco’s ‘other’ refinery,
and providing local financial guarantees. The Sidi Kacem, which is located 217 km north of
latter has reportedly been the main sticking Casablanca.
point. Built with the help of Eni, which held a stake
The seemingly endless legal cases have in the unit from completion until it was nation-
failed to bring any resolution. In fact, as these alised in 1973, the 26,000 bpd Sidi Kacem was
have proceeded, clarity appears to have dimin- shut permanently in 2009 in order to improve
ished. Official receiver Mohamed El Krimi was economics at SAMIR. The mothballed facility is
replaced in May 2018 by Abdelkbir Safadi amid now used as a storage facility.
disputes between the parties involved. Krimi While the SAMIR debacle continues to play
had successfully argued the year before that the out, such an investment would suggest that
liquidation be extended to the private assets of few lessons, if any, have been learned from Sidi
SAMIR executives. Kacem. In any case, $2.4bn is a hefty price tag for
However, given that six of the companies are a glorified storage facility. ™

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Amid positive news in the LNG market and diversification efforts in North America
and elsewhere, geopolitical stresses continue to be seen in the East Mediterranean

COMMENTARY WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s transnational pipeline running from Western
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of Australia that the National COVID-19 Commis-
international editors provide you with a snap- sion Advisory Board (NNC) has recommended
shot of some of the key issues affecting their to the federal government as worthy of support.
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s WA Premier Mark McGowan said on August
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign 17 that he wanted to avoid a repeat of the market
up here. volatility currently being experienced on the East
This week’s topics include challenges, progress Coast. “Western Australia’s domestic gas policy
and failures in Africa, natural gas policy announce- is the envy of the nation, and the updated policy
ments in Western Australia, a contract award at the will ensure our state can continue to access relia-
Shuiaba refinery, Iraq, an assessment of Azerbai- ble and affordable gas,” he said.
jan’s energy exports and output, and continued The Waitsia project was the only onshore
stresses between Greece and Turkey on drilling in development to receive an exemption. Japan’s
the Eastern Mediterranean. Mitsui and Co. and Beach Energy are develop-
Add in Chevron’s moves in renewables and ing the gas field via a joint venture and are still
nuclear fusion and a look at the rise in LNG exports, to reach a final investment decision (FID) on the
and our monitors provide worthwhile insight into project.
the worldwide energy industry. McGowan said his government had given
in-principle support to allow Waitsia to fill
Asia: WA ring-fences onshore gas projects capacity at the Karratha Gas Plant and export
The Western Australia government has some of its production as liquefied natural gas
announced plans to prevent the sale of future (LNG) “for a short period of time”. This was,
onshore natural gas projects, barring a single he said, because of the exceptional economic
project, to East Coast or overseas buyers. circumstances created by the coronavirus
The move effectively scuttles the controversial (COVID-19) pandemic.

Week 33 19•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7