Page 13 - AfrOil Week 41 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Atakpa went on to say that his ship, the Soroh, as saying by the Daily Trust. “Nobody can stop
had stepped up its patrols of creeks in south- it except at the tapping point. The concerned oil
ern Nigeria in a bid to crack down on illegal oil company has been notified, but if they like they
refining, a practice known locally as bunkering. will stop, and if they don’t, they won’t.”
He also expressed frustration with the results
of these patrols, explaining that as soon as one No response from IOCs
bunkering operation was shut down, others As of press time, it was not clear whether Atak-
could be launched since stolen crude remained pa’s remarks had drawn a response from Shell
widely available. or any of the other IOCs and MOCs working in
Recounting the results of a raid on one illegal Nigeria.
refining site, he reported: “When we arrived at Shell has cited the ongoing struggle to con-
the camp, we noticed that all the criminals had tain sabotage, spills and theft in the Niger River
deserted the camps. But what we saw are white Delta as one of the reasons for its decision to
flags indicating a truce and that they are ready divest its 30% stake in Shell Petroleum Devel-
to allow the military in. We came in [and] lev- opment Co. (SPDC), the joint venture that con-
elled the whole area. What we would have done trols its onshore assets in southern Nigeria. In
is to move in a swamp buggy to deactivate the May 2022, the super-major’s former CEO Ben
entire area. But you can appreciate the distance. van Beurden noted that the company had been
It is about three to four hours by speed boats, experiencing increasing difficulties on this front
almost five hours. It would require huge logis- in recent years and said it was approaching a
tics, manpower and all other auxiliaries for such turning point. “In the end, we have to concede
movement. But what we did about three weeks that this is beyond what we can do,” he remarked.
ago is to deactivate the camp. But as you can Shell agreed earlier this year to sell its stake
see, they have already started connecting those in SPDC to two Nigerian companies, ND West-
pipes. Before we leave, we are going to deactivate ern Ltd and Heirs Oil and Gas Ltd. On June 30,
them again.” however, it said that it had put the sale on hold
In the meantime, the naval officer com- pending the Nigerian Supreme Court’s resolu-
plained, the oil company that operates the tion of a lawsuit related to an oil spill in Bayelsa
wellhead where the illegal refiners were sourc- state in 2018.
ing their crude has not taken any steps to deter Equity in the SPDC joint venture is currently
theft. “Like you saw in those dugout pits, crude split between Nigerian National Petroleum
oil was flowing into it, and it has been flowing Co. Ltd (NNPCL), with 55%; Shell, with 30%;
since. They heard us coming and that was why France’s TotalEnergies, with 10%; and Italy’s Eni,
they abandoned the camp,” Atakpa was quoted with 5%. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery now

97% complete, NMDPRA chief says

NIGERIA FAROUK Ahmed, chief executive of the Nige- He also stressed the future importance of
rian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum the refinery to the Nigerian fuel sector, saying
Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said on that the facility would play a significant role in
October 12 that the Dangote Refinery was now reducing the country’s dependence on imported
97% complete, according to a report from This petroleum products. The plant will help meet
Day. the rising demand for refined fuels while also
Ahmed made an announcement to this effect ensuring lower costs and foreign exchange sav-
after meeting with representatives of the Dan- ings, Ahmed stated.
gote Group to discuss the 650,000-barrel per The Dangote Refinery is set to be the largest
day (bpd) oil-processing plant’s work plan for single-train refinery ever commissioned and
the 2022/2023 period. - the largest oil-processing plant in Africa. The
He did not say whether the facility had plant will turn out gasoline and diesel that meet
committed to any specific deadline for launch- Euro-5 emissions, as well as jet fuel and petro-
ing testing or commercial operations, but he chemicals. It is expected to create 4,000 new jobs
stressed that NMDPRA would provide Dan- directly and could create another 145,000 jobs
gote Group with all the support it needed to indirectly.
ensure that the plant was completed and came The cost of building the Dangote Refinery
on stream in a timely fashion. has been estimated at $20bn.

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