Page 7 - DMEA Week 36

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of the pipeline. is was a pressing issue, given that squabbles over this issue had already caused work to fall behind schedule in Kenya.
land compensation
e matter is no less pressing now that Tullow’s farm-in deal has foundered.
As such, if Ugandan o cials do consider Ken- ya’s o er, they are likely to start discussions by asking whether there is any reason to believe that land compensation will proceed more smoothly. And unfortunately for Kenya, the answer to that question appears to be no.
In late July, the East African reported that problems with land acquisition and compensa- tion had forced Kenya to revise its timeline for beginning large-scale crude oil exports. Specif- ically, it reported that Nairobi had not moved ahead with land compensation. Kenyan author- ities have not yet gazetted the acreage that will be used for upstream development, it said, or con- ducted surveys of the land along the proposed pipeline route.
repeated delays
ese problems have exacerbated the e ect of
delays stemming from other causes, such as the fact that Kenya’s National Environmental Man- agement Agency (NEMA) does not expect to receive a completed environmental and social impact (ESIA) study by the end of 2019. ey have also led Nairobi to push back the date for starting construction on the pipeline.
e Kenyan government had hoped to see a nal investment decision (FId) on the Lokich- ar-Lamu pipeline made by the end of this year, followed by the beginning of production in 2022. But the target date for FId on the project has now been pushed back to mid-2020, and this means that oil cannot begin owing before 2023.
These developments do not really give Uganda any reason to start working with Kenya again. Instead, they suggest that co-operation would inevitably lead to new discussions of the same old problems, without any guarantee of a solution – and without giving Uganda any compelling new reasons to resolve its upstream problem.
In turn, without an answer to questions about how to proceed with upstream development, Uganda will not have much need for an export pipeline anyway.™
PoliCy
Iran, Saudi Arabia vie for India’s affections
middle eAst
MIddLE Eastern rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia have expressed their commitment to supply- ing India with oil and gas as they vie to deepen their relationships with the world’s third largest energy consumer.
Iranian Ambassador to India Ali Chegini urged New delhi on September 9 to follow in China’s footsteps and defy US sanctions on its oil and nancial sectors.
“If India wants energy security, it should look at a stable source [of supply] like Iran,” Indian nancial daily Mint quoted Chegini as saying. Indian oil importers stopped buying from Iran once the US’ sixth-month waiver on sanctions expired on May 2.
Chegini, who was speaking to the Indian Association of Foreign A airs Correspondents in New delhi, added that China had agreed to invest $280bn in Iran’s energy sector. Chinese companies are reportedly set to get priority in oil and gas project tenders in exchange for this investment.
“We are ready to have the same agreement as with China, with India, maybe even more than that,” Chegini said.
e ambassador’s comments were not with- out criticism, however,
Chegini noted that Indian e orts to develop the port of Chabahar were lagging when com- pared with those of Chinese companies working on the port of Gwadar in Pakistan. Chabahar
acts as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia that will allow India to bypass Pakistan. Moreover, it also acts as a counter to China’s growing regional in uence through Gwadar.
Chegini said: “We would like our brothers from India to be much more active in Chabahar. India is serious, but whatever China is spending and working in Gwadar is not comparing with India.”
While the ambassador was calling for deeper ties between the two nations, regional rival Saudi Arabia was busy undermining Tehran’s bargain- ing power. Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas dharmendra Pradhan tweeted on September 9 that newly appointed Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman had assured him during a meeting in Jeddah that his country would remain a reliable supplier.
“Saudi Minister reiterated Saudi Arabia’s commitment to remain a reliable and sustaina- ble partner in hydrocarbon supplies and also on Saudi investments in India,” Pradhan said.
Later that day, Pradhan travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and met President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. A er the engage- ment, he tweeted: “had a healthy exchange on further deepening bilateral trade and investment in the energy sector. Also discussed enhancing India’s upstream footprints in UAE and mutual investments in the entire oil and gas value chain in both our countries.”™
Week 36 12•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7