Page 10 - DMEA Week 46 2021

DMEA SUPPLY & PROCESSING DMEA

Zimbabwe to import electricity

to ease load shedding

AFRICA ZIMBABWE’S power utility Zesa Holdings generation stood at just 1.5%.
plans to import up to 400MW of electricity from “This is the lowest [percentage] I have ever
Mozambique and Zambia to help end load shed- come across anywhere in the world,” Gata told
ding and outages often exceeding 12 hours, The The Chronicle. “We are importing because the
Chronicle reported on November 15. government has been sitting on an implementa-
Demand for power in Zimbabwe peaks at tion agreement for IPPs for over two years now.”
about 2200 MW during winter peak of which The Zesa executive chairman said licensed
the country produces 1400MW due to limited IPPs in Zimbabwe had potential to generate
installed capacity and aging, unreliable facilities. 6000MW of which 600MW could easily be
Zesa executive chairman Sydney Gata said in actualised.
an interview that the need to bridge the power Zimbabwe’s main power generation facilities
gap with imports stems in part from the Min- are the 1050MW Kariba South hydro-electricity
istry of Finance having failed to sign an inde- plant, hamstringed by drought, and the coal-
pendent power producer (IPP) implementation fired 900MW Hwange Power Station, which has
agreement. outlived its design lifespan.
Gata said 20%-35% of electricity imported The $1.5bn Hwange 7 and 8 expansion pro-
from Mozambique and Zambia came from IPPs ject should add 600MW to the national grid
while in Zimbabwe the sector’s contribution to when realised next year.™
REFINING

OPAC Refineries signs

kerosene offtake deal

AFRICA THE Independent Petroleum Marketers Asso- development and scheduled to come into oper-
ciation of Nigeria (IPMAN) this week signed a ation by the end of 2022, joining the 5,000 bpd
kerosene offtake deal with the modular 10,000 developed by Waltersmith Refining & Pet-
barrel per day (bpd) OPAC Refineries facility at rochemical Co. at Ibigwe. With the Nigeria
Umuseti in Delta. National Petroleum Corp.’s (NNPC) refineries
The deal will see OPAC supply fuel oil to at Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Warri all offline
IMPAN members throughout Nigeria. for rehabilitation work, Waltersmith is currently
The group’s President Elder Chinedu Oko- the country’s only active refinery.
ronkwo said that the supply deal was agreed In April, the Department of Petroleum
in order to help bridge supply gaps which have Resources (DPR) – recently replaced by the new
been compounded by a significant rise in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petro-
price of LPG. leum Regulatory Authority (NPRA) – published
Shortly after the announcement, IPMAN’s an updated list which showed that 23 refinery
public relations officer Yakubu Suleiman moved project licences were active as of March. If they
to assure Nigerians of plentiful supply lasting were all completed, they would provide an addi-
into 2022, urging the public not to panic over tional refining capacity of 1.09mn bpd.
a perceived scarcity. “Do not panic, as there is In August, Minister of State for Petroleum
enough product on [the] ground that can last till Resources Timipre Sylva said the “programme
next year,” he said. is on course”.
OPAC began pre-commissioning operations He added: “Modular refineries, we have
in September following completion earlier in licensed quite a bit. I am not in a position to give
the year. At that point, chairman Momoh Jimah you an exact figure now but I know that a few of
Oyarekhua said pre-commissioning and com- these refineries are under construction and very
missioning work would continue until the end soon we will be commissioned,” he said.
of November, when commercial operations are He said that the Waltersmith facility is “func-
due to begin. tioning well”, noting that he had “also laid the
OPAC is one of 16 modular refineries with foundation stone for Atlantic refinery and there
capacities of 20,000 bpd or less that are under is Niger Delta own that is ongoing”.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 18•November•2021