Page 12 - AfrOil Week 40 2021

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

UK-based Petrofac had previously carried out with NOC.”
a feasibility study for the project. It updated the He added: “Today we announce the start of a
study in 2020. giant step, the actual start of the construction of
In 2013, then Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said an oil refinery project in the south, [for] which
that the plant would be built in Awbari, around the people of the region have been waiting for
55 km to the east of the oilfield, with a larger, many years.”
300,000 bpd unit to be built in the northern Libya’s current refining slate comprises facili-
coastal city of Tobruk. The units were intended ties at Ras Lanuf (220,000 bpd), Zawiya (120,000
to cater to local fuel demand. Reports have also bpd), Tobruk (20,000 bpd) and Sarir (10,000
suggested that the city of Sebha, to the east of bpd), all of which are operated by National Oil
Awbari, is the location. Corp. (NOC).
Meanwhile, the unity government’s Prime Operations at each of these facilities have
Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said: “The finan- been disrupted at various points over the past
cial coverage is ready for this project and the decade, as have operations at the country’s oil-
specifications and technical designs are ready fields and terminals. ™

Senegal’s petroleum minister sees GTA,

Sangomar coming on stream in 2023

SENEGAL SENEGAL’S Minister of Petroleum and Energy
Aissatou Sophie Gladima has said she still
expects the country to launch commercial
hydrocarbon development at two offshore sites
in 2023.
In an interview with L’Observateur, a local
newspaper, Gladima stated that she remained
optimistic that Woodside Petroleum, the Aus-
tralian operator of the oil-bearing Sangomar
block, and BP, the UK-based operator of the
natural gas-bearing Grande Tortue/Ahemeyim
(GTA) block, would both begin production
in 2023. “We have our fingers crossed,” she
remarked.
She also stressed that these two projects,
which will mark Senegal’s entry on to the roster
of oil and gas-producing countries, were mov-
ing forward. “The two projects in development Both GTA and Sangomar will be developed with FPSOs (Image: FAR)
phase [Sangomar and GTA] are seeing very sat-
isfactory rates of their execution,” she said. reservoirs containing oil,” she told L’Observa-
The minister made a particular note of pro- teur. “The goal is to begin production during
gress at GTA, where BP and its US-based part- the third trimester of 2023 after the installation
ner Kosmos Energy will use floating production, of subsea infrastructure.”
storage and off-loading (FPSO) and floating GTA is an offshore block that straddles the
LNG (FLNG) vessels to support gas extrac- maritime border between Mauritania and Sen-
tion and liquefaction operations. “On August egal. It was discovered by Kosmos in 2015 and
31, 2021 the Grande Tortue/Ahmeyim project is believed to contain some 15 trillion cubic feet
was in the range of 65% completion,” she com- (425bn cubic metres) of natural gas. BP joined
mented. “The FPSO and the FLNG vessels that the project in 2016, and the two companies
are being constructed in China and Singapore made a final investment decision (FID) on first-
are 70% complete. These vessels are expected to phase production in late 2018.
be in Senegal by the end of 2022 and the start Meanwhile, the Sangomar licence area
of 2023.” includes three separate fields – Rufisque, Sango-
Meanwhile at Sangomar, she said, Woodside mar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore. Oil
is moving forward with its drilling programme was found at the block in 2014, and Woodside
and has reached the stage of about 35% comple- has estimated that its offshore licence area con-
tion. “We have just completed the drilling in the tains 645mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in
SNP-20 wells, which have been a big success, recoverable reserves, including 485mn barrels
and confirm the presence of large high-quality of crude oil and 160mn boe of natural gas. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 06•October•2021