Page 7 - AfrOil Week 35

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In addition to its bid for Eni’s assets, which are Insurgents with suspected links to Islamic
estimated to be worth AUD1bn ($739.9bn), State have been battling government forces in
The Australian reported that Medco is “circling” gas-rich northern Mozambique, where several
ExxonMobil’s $2.5bn sale of its Gippsland Basin major LNG export projects are under develop-
assets in the Bass Strait. ment. The attacks have grown in frequency over
Reports of Medco’s interest in upstream assets the past year. In July, eight employees of a pri-
in Australia come after the group announced a vate construction firm working on Mozambique
net loss in the first quarter of this year. LNG were killed in an ambush.
Medco said on August 26 that it had recorded Mozambique LNG is due on stream in 2024
a $20mn net loss, as deficits from copper and and will produce 13.1mn tonnes per year (tpy)
gold mining subsidiary Amman Mineral Nusa of super-cooled gas at its peak. The Golfinho and
Tenggara (AMNT) offset profits from its oil, gas Atum gas fields in the Offshore Area 1 conces- Operators may
and power divisions. sion serve as its resource base.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation Total and its partners secured almost $15bn struggle to find
and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 13% year in senior debt financing for the project in early
on year in the quarter to $181mn, on the back August. They will be hoping that the security sit- semi-submersible
of Medco’s acquisition of Ophir Energy in June uation can be contained. rigs for the work
2019. The Indonesian developer said Ophir’s In other news, Iraq’s oil-for-projects deal
acquisition “more than offset the 15% drop in with China is reportedly on hold because of the they plan in
realised oil prices”, which fell from $60.7 per bar- former’s unfolding economic crisis and pressure
rel in the first quarter of 2019 to $51.3 per barrel from the US. The agreement reached last year is 2021, according
in the same period of this year. expected to see China support a $10bn joint fund
Medco produced 101,000 barrels of oil equiv- to develop reconstruction projects, including a to Bassoe
alent per day (boepd) in the quarter, up 10% y/y. number of refineries. In return, Iraq will supply
The company said it had brought its Meliwis gas China with 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil.
development project in the Madura Offshore However, local media report that the agree-
production-sharing contract (PSC) on stream ment has been put on ice. Washington is pressing
in July using an unmanned wellhead platform. the government to cancel it, they claim.
Medco added that it had secured approvals
from both project partners and upstream reg- If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
ulator SKK Migas to use a similar approach in the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
the development of the Paus Biru gas field in the then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
Sampang PSC.
Europe: Turn of tide for UK rig market The
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping market for semi-submersible rigs in UK
Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for waters has been oversupplied for years, weighing
NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor. down on day rates. But “the tide is beginning to
turn,” according to a new report by Oslo-based
DMEA: Mozambican security concerns brokerage Bassoe Offshore.
France’s Total has formed a security pact with Rig owners are responding to the testing new
Mozambique’s government to help protect its market conditions by retiring more vessels, and
$20bn Mozambique LNG venture, weeks after a this could mean that operators struggle to find
key port near the project was captured by Islamic semi-submersibles for the work they plan in
militants. 2021, according to Bassoe.

Week 35 02•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7