Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 47 2020

LatAmOil NRG LatAmOil

Earlier this month, Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Min- per day (bpd) production cut, the Petroleum
ister of State for Petroleum Resources, said that Association of Japan’s (PAJ) president, Tsutomu
the government now expected to pass the new Sugimori, told a December 20 press conference.
oil and gas law before the end of March 2021. “Given the weaker oil demand amid the
Last week, though, the speaker of the House of resurgence of COVID-19 infections, OPEC+ is
Representatives, the lower house of the National likely to keep the current curbs ... after January,”
Assembly, hinted that the timeline for finalising Reuters quoted the executive, who is also chair-
the long-awaited (and oft-delayed) PIB might man of leading Japanese refiner Eneos, as saying.
extend beyond the first quarter of 2021. Accord- His comments were made after Bloomberg
ing to Femi Gbajabiamila, the leader of President quoted unnamed OPEC+ delegates on Novem-
Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Con- ber 11 as saying that member countries were
gress (APC) faction, the lower house will be able inclined to delay production increases, but had
to pass the bill within six months. not been swayed by some calls to deepen cuts.
Gbajabiamila also expressed some concerns The decision to refrain from upping production The resurgence
about the current version of the bill, saying: limits comes amid lockdowns in Europe and
“[The] PIB as it is does not allow Nigeria to com- record case numbers in the US that have driven in the number of
pete favourably in the global market ... We need California to introduce curfews.
to look at [the details of the bill].” The Japanese Ministry of Health, meanwhile, COVID-19 cases
Meanwhile, the head of National Petroleum revealed that the East Asian country’s cases had threatens to bring
Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), climbed by 2,508 on November 22 – the fourth
a corporate service unit of Nigerian National consecutive day of record-breaking numbers. an end to the
Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) had his own take on Speaking at the start of the spike in cases,
the measures needed to ensure the country’s Sugimori warned that rising infection num- recent recovery in
competitiveness. Speaking at a virtual industry bers could depress national gasoline demand in
conference last week, Group general manager December and January. Consumption is already Japan’s refinery
Bala Wunti called on NNPC to reduce its pro- projected to slip 2% year on year this month, but runs
duction costs to $10 per barrel or less. Sugimori said could it plunge as much as 9% in
He explained his call for cost-cutting by December-January.
pointing out that market conditions would not The resurgence in the number of COVID-19
support upstream projects that carried high cases also threatens to bring an end to the recent
production costs. Currently, he said, expenses recovery in the country’ refinery runs, which hit
related to direct handling, human resources a 13-week high in the seven days to November
and logistics account for 70% of NNPC’s pro- 14. S&P Global Platts cited data published by the
duction costs, while the remaining 30% covers PAJ on November 18 as showing that run rates
expenses related to administration, direct lifting, had climbed 4.7% to 2.48mn bpd.
production maintenance, security and service The pandemic is exacerbating a long-term
management. downward trend in Japanese fossil fuel con-
sumption, which has been driven by rising
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping energy efficiency and an ageing population.
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for The Ministry of Energy, Trade and Indus-
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. try (METI) revealed last week that final energy
consumption in fiscal year 2019-2020 had con-
Asia: Japan’s OPEC+ expectations tracted by 2% y/y to 335mn kilolitres of oil equiv-
The Japanese oil industry expects OPEC+ to alent. The ministry noted that fossil fuel supplies
delay plans to ramp up production from the had declined for a sixth year in a row, accounting
start of 2021 owing to coronavirus’ (COVID-19) for 85% of primary energy supply, while renewa-
downward pressure on global oil demand. The bles and nuclear power had both expanded their
cartel is likely to stick to its existing 7.7mn barrel share.

Week 47 26•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7