Page 16 - AfrOil Week 31 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

The company previously said that investments Cape Town was taken out of commission fol-
required to make Natref comply with new lowing a mid-2020 explosion, while in April
industry regulations would be “sub-econom- 2021, Engen Petroleum, a subsidiary of Malay-
ical” and the partners are expected to make a sia’s state-owned Petronas, said it would turn its
call on the plant’s fate later this year, with sale, 120,000 bpd refinery in Durban into an import
closure or conversion for storage or blending all terminal following years of losses and a fire.
said to be under consideration. Meanwhile, various factors have conspired to
However, the South African government significantly reduce usability and utilisation
last week pushed back the CF2 deadline from rates at NOC PetroSA’s 45,000 bpd Mossel Bay
2023 to 2027. While Sasol said it welcomed this gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility over the past two
decision, it said it would continue to “evaluate years.
options” for the facility. This left Natref, Sasol’s 160,000 bpd Secunda
The legislation back-track follows warnings coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant and UK-based BP
from the South African Petroleum Industry and Shell’s 180,000 bpd Sapref unit as the coun-
Association (SAPIA) that the new legislation try’s only remaining functional refineries.
could make the country’s remaining refineries In March, though, operations were sus-
obsolete within two years without financial sup- pended at Sapref, with the partners saying they
port. SAPIA has been working with the govern- could not commit to further expenditures “until
ment to find a resolution to issues with funding decisions about the future of the plant have been
the upgrade of six refineries in the country to made – including a possible change of owner-
allow them to produce cleaner fuels. ship.” Sapref produces gasoline, diesel, marine
It warned in January that refiners would be fuel, bitumen, base oils and paraffin waxes.
unlikely to carry out nearly $4bn worth of com- The resumption of operations at Natref is
bined overhaul work without government sup- likely to soon be joined by the return to service
port or permission to raise fuel prices. of the Astron plant following around two years
Glencore’s 100,000 bpd Astron Refinery in of rehabilitation work. ™

Scirocco Energy, Aminex say work at

Ruvuma block in Tanzania on track

TANZANIA AIM-LISTED Scirocco Energy and its Lon- project, which it first agreed to sell to Wentworth
don-listed partner Aminex have announced Resources (UK). However, the sale has been
that work at the Ruvuma block in Tanzania is discouraged, since both Tanzania Petroleum
on track, as a seismic programme undertaken by Development Corp. (TPDC) and APT have the
operator ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT) has right to pre-empt the deal.
confirmed sufficient data for the final selection With a 25% non-operated interest in the Tan-
of a drilling site. zania $140mn gas project, Aminex has injected
APT recently received the first batch of field $35mn into the project. Commercial gas pro-
seismic data and expects to have processed and duction from Ntorya is currently scheduled to
interpreted enough data from the 338-square begin in late 2024.
km 3D seismic programme before the end of Ntorya is the largest field within the Ruvuma
August to have confirmed the final location of block, an onshore licence area in southern Tan-
the Chikumbi-1 (CH-1) well, the partners said. zania. It is estimated to hold 1.9 trillion cubic feet
Meanwhile, data acquisition continues in the (53.81bn cubic metres) of gas in place (GIP). ™
field, and CH-1 is slated to spud in November,
Aminex’s executive chairman Charles Santos
said in a statement.
“The seismic acquisition programme is close
to producing results over the core area of the
Ntorya gas-field with the delineation of the final
location for the CH-1 well,” Santos said.
“We are pleased that the target spud date for
the well remains on track for November 2022,”
he added.
Aminex owns a 25% non-operated interest
in the project, with its costs carried by partner
APT.
Scirocco plans to sell its 25% interest in the The Ruvuma block is in southern Tanzania (Photo: Scirocco)

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 28•July•2022