Page 7 - FSUOGM Week 34

NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG)

Looking to the future

Although rattled by the international oil and gas price collapse, governments and

investors continue to press forward – either through new legislation or projects

GLOBAL WELCOME the latest edition of NewsBase’s High hopes in Africa
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of This week’s AfrOil takes a closer look at Nige-
international editors provide you with a snap- ria’s Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB). The govern-
shot of some of key issues affecting their regional ment has finally brought the proposed law to the
beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s Picks to National Assembly for consideration, after more
your inbox every week for free. Just sign up here. than 10 years of delay, and officials in Abuja hope
With the wave of painful second-quarter to secure its passage before the end of the year.
results largely out of the way for the oil and gas In another positive development, the Nigeri-
industry, governments and investors are look- an-Chinese joint venture AIPCC Energy is set to
ing to the future. This means different things commission its 6,000 barrel per day (bpd) mod-
depending on where you look, however, with ular refinery in Edo State next month. According
upbeat development news counterbalanced by to Michael Osime, the chairman of the JV, the
funding concerns. partners are on track to finish the plant less than
There was good news out of Nigeria, not a year after the start of construction. This will
only in the form of long-delayed legislative pro- make it “the quickest modular refinery [ever]
gress but also the imminent commissioning of a delivered [in Nigeria],” he was quoted as saying
major new downstream facility. Similar positive in a company statement.
news has come from Russia, where Rosneft has Elsewhere in West Africa, Australia’s FAR has
returned to offshore development in the Arc- arranged to reduce its holding in the Sangomar
tic and Gazprom Neft has launched of the next block offshore Senegal from 15% to 13.67%. It
phase of its own Arctic project. will transfer the 1.33% stake to Petrosen, the
The Iraqi government, meanwhile, has signed national oil company (NOC), which is looking
a number of new deals covering oil production, to raise its own share of the project from 10% to
gas capture and power generation with US 18%. The deal offers some financial benefit to
investors. FAR, which has not fulfilled its obligation to pay
Alongside more the encouraging news, how- its share of the RSSD consortium’s expenses in
ever, come reports that highlight the ongoing recent months.
struggle to manage stressed balanced sheets. Meanwhile, Uganda National Oil Co.
India’s ONGC has flagged up that it is consider- (UNOC) is optimistic about the potential for
ing raising billions of dollars’ worth of new debt, using the Kisumu-Jinja barge route across Lake
while Saudi Aramco has reportedly cancelled its Victoria to increase the volume of petroleum
maintenance tender for the Marjan oilfield. products flowing into the country. The state-run