Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 47 2020

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Fossil fuels saw their share of the energy mix ministry said the non-binding accord covered
drop to its lowest level since fiscal 2011-12. the transportation and storage of oil products.
Talks on this subject have been ongoing for four
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping months between Nigeria’s state-owned NNPC
Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for and its counterpart in Niger, SONIDEP.
NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor. Niger’s 20,000 bpd Soraz refinery is situated
in Zinder, some 260 km from the Nigerian bor-
DMEA: Iraq invites bids for refinery der. According to the ministry, Niger’s domestic
BP and other investors in the Greater Tortue fuel demand is only 5,000 bpd, leaving a surplus
Ahmeyim (GTA) LNG project offshore Senegal of 15,000 bpd of capacity available for export.
and Mauritania have scaled back their expansion
plans in order to reduce costs, Houston-based If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
partner Kosmos Energy has said. the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
The project’s second phase was expected to raise then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
liquefaction capacity from 2.5mn tonnes per
year (tpy) to 10mn tpy. Reporting its third-quar- Europe: Norway launches new investor call
ter results, though, Kosmos said the expansion The main news in the European oil industry Rosneft estimates
would add only 2.5mn tpy, bringing the total to this week is Norway’s launch of its 25th frontier Vostok Oil’s
5mn tpy. licensing round, aimed at driving forward explo-
Breakeven costs for this LNG are projected ration in relatively unexplored regions. liquids resource
to come to just above $4 per mmBtu for Asian Authorities have invited firms to bid for 136
deliveries and even less for European ones, new exploration blocks in eight frontier zones in base at 6bn boe
thanks to the lower capital costs. the Barents Sea and one zone in the Norwegian
Over in the UAE, national oil company Sea. Companies have until February 23 2021 to
(NOC) ADNOC said on November 9 it intended file their bids, and awards should occur the fol-
to start trading refined products in December lowing month.
through its joint venture with Italy’s Eni and Unlike Norway’s annual awards in predefined
Austria’s OMV. ADNOC Global Trading (AGT) areas (APA) rounds, which seek operators for
is 65%-owned by ADNOC, 20% by Eni and 15% blocks in mature areas of the shelf, its numbered
by OMV. rounds occur at less regular intervals in areas
The recently-formed venture began deriva- where infrastructure is scarcer and drilling risks
tives trading in September with a focus on crude greater. But wells can also yield potentially large
oil. It had hoped to launch trading operations in discoveries.
the second quarter of this year, but the coronavi- The round’s launch comes less than a week
rus (COVID-19) pandemic led to delays. Iraq is after the country’s Supreme Court finished
eager to build out its refining sector to wean itself hearing a case brought by environmentalists
off fuel imports, but the OPEC producer’s dire that disputes the previous award of acreage in the
fiscal straits mean it needs international invest- Barents Sea. A lawsuit, backed by Greenpeace
ment to take projects forward. Norway and Nature and Youth, is attempting to
In other news, Nigeria has signed a mem- use Norway’s founding principles as a justifica-
orandum of understanding (MoU) on poten- tion for curbing oil and gas activity in the area.
tially obtaining petroleum product supplies The court is due to give a final verdict at around
from neighbouring Niger. Nigeria’s petroleum the turn of the year.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 47 26•November•2020