Page 15 - AfrOil Week 13 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

As a result of that review, he said, UTM Offshore FLNG vessel for ExxonMobil (US) and state-
decided to raise the production capacity of the owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
FLNG vessel to 1.52mn tonnes per year (tpy), an (NNPC), the two shareholders in the Yoho
increase of 26% on the original figure. oilfield, which lies within the OML 104 licence
He went on to say that his company was still area.
planning to make a final investment decision ExxonMobil and NNPC began extracting
(FID) on the FLNG project in the fourth quarter crude from Yoho in 2003 and have been flaring
of 2022. UTM Offshore had made a statement to associated gas or re-injecting it into the reser-
that effect last December, saying that this dead- voir to maximise oil output. Now that the site is
line would allow LNG production to begin in mature, however, they see the FLNG project as a
2026. means of changing course and commercialising
The total cost of building and deploying the the field’s gas as oil yields decline.
FLNG vessel has been estimated at $5bn. UTM As of last year, Yoho was still yielding about
Offshore is set to secure up to $5bn in funding 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil. ExxonMobil
for the project under a a deal signed with Cai- and NNPC have been using a floating produc-
ro-based Afreximbank last December. tion, storage and off-loading (FPSO) to develop
The Nigerian company will be installing the the offshore site. ™

Shootout occurs at Dangote Refinery

ZIMBABWE NIGERIA’S Dangote Refinery came under had already been finished. “Mechanical work on
attack earlier this week, when an armed group the refinery is complete, and hopefully before
exchanged fire with security personnel as they the end of the third quarter we should be in the
attempted to steal equipment. market ... Full production can start, maybe, by
Lagos State Police Command reported that the end of the year or [the] beginning of 2023,”
it had foiled an attempted raid and that one he was quoted as saying by Platts.
attacker was killed. The pre-commissioning of the plant’s pro-
The refinery is scheduled to begin operations duction units and export facilities began in
in September at an initial capacity of 540,000 December 2021. The plant has been under con-
barrels per day (bpd). struction since 2013 and was originally due to
Dangote public relations officer Benjamin come online several years ago.
Hundeyin said: “Armed hoodlums number- Nigeria’s government took a 20% equity stake
ing about 20 who gained access to the refinery in the plant through the national oil company in
through the lagoon side were repelled while August 2021. Under this deal, Nigerian National
attempting to cart away already-installed Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) is slated to provide
armoured cables in the refinery.” the Dangote refinery with 300,000 bpd of crude
The refinery, which is expected to reach its oil, equivalent to more than 46% of the feedstock
full 650,000 bpd capacity in early 2023, is Nige- it needs to operate at full capacity.
ria’s most hotly-anticipated industrial project. When finished, the Dangote refinery will be
Abuja has spoken extensively about the impact capable of turning out enough petroleum prod-
it anticipates the plant will have on the country’s ucts to cover all of Nigeria’s domestic demand.
economy. The country is currently a net importer of fuel,
In January, owner Aliko Dangote said that despite its position as Africa’s largest crude oil
nearly all of the work on the oil-processing plant producer. ™

Dangote Refinery construction site near Lagos (Image: Dangote Group)

Week 13 30•March•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P15