Page 11 - AfrOil Week 13 2022

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

It continued: “[The] Ndungu field develop- Angolan assets with those of BP (UK). Azule
ment will now be upgraded, thanks [to] this Energy “can count on a solid pipeline of new
significant increase of resource base, following projects starting up over the next few years,
a phased approach to untap the overall potential including [the] Agogo, Ndungu and PAJ oil pro-
in an optimal way from a financial perspective, jects in Blocks 15/06 and 31 respectively, as well
initially contributing to extend and increase the as the NGC gas projects,” it said.
plateau of the Ngoma, a 100,000 bpd zero-dis- Equity in Block 15/06 is divided between
charge and zero-process flaring FPSO.” subsidiaries of Eni, the operator, with 36.84%;
Eni also described the Ndungu project as a Angola’s national oil company (NOC) Sonangol,
boon for Azule Energy, the recently unveiled with 36.84%; and Angola’s SSI Fifteen Ltd, with
joint venture that combines the Italian major’s 26.32%. ™

POLICY
Ghanaian government to reduce fuel prices

GHANA GHANA’S Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta respectively.
said on Thursday (March 24) that retail fuel Ofori-Atta noted conditions on the world
prices would be reduced effective April 1, 2022, market on March 24, commenting: “The rising
as part of a wider effort to insulate consumers prices of fuel at the pumps is influenced largely
from economic disruption. by the rising crude oil prices on the interna-
Ofori-Atta explained that pump prices for tional market and the exchange rate deprecia-
gasoline and diesel would go down by GHS0.15 tion. Though the rise in crude oil prices should
($0.02) per litre on April 1. He also stated that have been to our benefit on [a] net basis, Ghana’s
the lower rates would remain in place for a import of petroleum products amounts to 5.2
period of three months. times the value of the proceeds from its crude
He also reported that other cuts were in the oil exports.”
pipeline. Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation So far this year, he said, a total of $3.9477bn
(BOST), Ghana’s state fuel import concern, will worth of crude oil has been exported from
see its margin reduced by GHS0.02 ($0.0026) Ghana, with the government’s portion amount-
per litre, while the Unified Petroleum Price ing to $513mn. However, the country imported
Fund margin will go down by GHS0.09 ($0.12) $2.719bn worth of crude oil and refined petro-
per litre, the fuel mark-in margin by GHS0.01 leum products. Under these circumstances, he
($0.0013) per litre and the primary distribution said, “[the] purported windfall gain in foreign
margin by GHS0.03 ($0.004) per litre. exchange is a mirage.”
“These are expected to reduce the price of Also on March 24, Duncan Amoah, the exec-
petrol by 1.6% and diesel by 1.4%,” he said. “We utive secretary of Ghana’s Chamber of Petro-
anticipate the measures taken to stabilise the leum Consumers (COPEC), said in an interview
currency will help further stabilise the prices at with Citi FM that the announced price cuts were
the pumps.” not what had been agreed earlier among stake-
He also noted that talks were continuing holders. As such, he said, the government’s deci-
between the Energy Ministry, the National sion was disappointing.
Petroleum Authority (NPA) and oil market- As of Thursday, diesel was selling for
ing companies (OMCs) on the reduction of GHS10.00-11.00 ($1.32-1.45) per litre, while
margins in what he described as a “spirit of gasoline was selling for GHS9.00 ($1.19) per litre
burden-sharing.” at most pumps. ™
Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the CEO of
the NPA, said during a visit to Takoradi this
week that the government intends to alleviate
the impact of rising pump prices for petroleum
products. “There [are] going to be heavy sacri-
fices on the part of government, NPA and every-
body so that together, we can move our country
forward,” he said.
Fuel prices have risen significantly since the
beginning of 2022 due to a number of factors,
including the cedi’s depreciation against the US
dollar and concerns about supply stemming
from tensions in Eastern Europe, among other
issues. Since January 1, average pump prices for
gasoline and diesel have risen by 45% and 57% BOST’s petroleum product storage depot in Kumasi (Photo: BOST)

Week 13 30•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P11