Page 15 - AfrOil Week 03 2021

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ProPriv has also included Sonangol in its list of companies such as Sonangol or Endiama,”
195 state-run companies slated for partial or full she said during a virtual conference hosted by
privatisation before the end of 2022. Late last Bloomberg.
year, Angolan Finance Minister Vera Daves de As of press time, Angola’s government had
Sousa announced that the government intended not yet decided when shares in Sonangol would
to list shares in both Sonangol and Endiama, the be put up for sale. Bloomberg quoted Sousa as
national diamond mining concern, on the stock saying in December that the timing “depends on
exchange. how quickly it will be possible to organise these
At that time, De Sousa stated that Luanda companies and the guarantee of compliance
hoped to launch the sale before mid-2022. “We with ‘due diligence’ – compliance with interna-
are aiming for the end of 2021 or the beginning tional procedural rules – to capture the interest
of 2022 to start the privatisation process of large of quality investors.” ™

PERFORMANCE
Egypt hits record highs in oil output,

hydrocarbon discoveries in 2020

EGYPT EGYPT made a record number of hydrocarbon assemblies of a number of public sector owned
discoveries in 2020, boosting crude production refineries.
to an all-time high of 700,000 barrels per day The new projects spearheaded by the oil
(bpd) and natural gas production to 1.1bn cubic ministry include the Mostorod refinery and the
feet (31.149mn cubic metres) per day. high octane gasoline refinery in Alexandria. The
According to the country’s Ministry of Mostorod refinery, built at a total cost of $4.4bn,
Petroleum and Mineral Resources, 62 oil and is jointly owned between state-owned Egyptian
gas reserves were found in 2020. The 47 crude General Petroleum Co. (EGPC) and Al-Qalaa
oil and 15 natural gas reserves were found in Holdings. It came on stream in September 2020
the Western Desert, the Eastern Desert, Gulf of and has the capacity to convert the heavy resid-
Suez, Nile Delta and the Mediterranean Sea. ual fuel oil produced at a nearby plant owned by
Most of Egypt’s crude oil production comes Cairo Oil Refining Co. to higher-value products
from the Western Desert region, 56%, followed such as diesel and gasoline.
by the Gulf of Suez with 23%, the Eastern Desert During the past year, the ministry has also
accounts for 12% of total output and the Sinai commissioned Assiut plant’s high-octane gaso-
Peninsula represents 9% of the total. line complex, built at the cost of $450mn. The
The exploration highlight of 2020 came right facility is set to turn out 660,000 tonnes per year
at the end of last year, when the Italian majoor (tpy) of naphta and will also produce butane.
Eni announced a significant new oil discovery The Egyptian government’s refinery capac-
on its Meleiha concession in Egypt’s Western ity development drive is aimed at achieving
Desert that added 10,000 bpd of gross produc- self-sufficiency in gasoline and diesel by 2023.
tion. Earlier in the year, Eni had reported the “Refineries play an important role in meeting
discovery of the Bashrush field in the North the needs of the local market for petroleum
Hammad concession in the conventional waters product,” the minister reportedly said. ™
of the Nile Delta. The well’s deliverability in
production configuration is estimated at up to
100mn cubic feet (2.8 mcm) per day of natural
gas and 800 bpd of condensate.
In 2020, Cairo signed 22 agreements with
global oil and gas firms to invest $1.6bn in
reserve development as well as $139 million in
oil well drilling at 74 sites.

Downstream plans
The Egyptian government is planning to execute
current and prospective oil refinery projects in
Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut and Suez at a total
cost of $7bn in fiscal year 2021/2022, which
starts next July, long-serving oil minster Tarek
El Molla announced while attending the general Meleiha was one of the biggest finds of 2020 (Image: Agiba)

Week 03 20•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15