Page 7 - AfrOil Week 29

AfrOil PERfoRmanCE AfrOil
NOC faces production stoppages
libya
LIBYA’S National Oil Corp.’s (NOC) income has diminished by around $580mn in June from May, the company reported last week, o by 25%. For the rst half, this reached $10.3bn, down by 11.25% year on year. NOC attributed the decline to a two-week power outage, with its eastern sub- sidiary, Arabian Gulf Oil Co. (AGOCO), losing 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production.
Output in June was 1.11mn bpd, according to OPeC’s secondary sources. NOC’s chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, said the company could pro- duce up to 400,000 bpd “through critical infra- structure upgrades, advancing outstanding deals and attracting new investment. To do this we need su cient budget and not to operate against a backdrop of ongoing con ict.”
He went on to oppose those who would do NOC down through “disinformation, attacks on facilities, or e orts to illegally export ... includ- ing by the parallel institution. e indivisibility of the oil sector is crucial for the preservation of national unity – there is but one NOC.”
e “parallel institution” referred to by San- alla is a company established in Benghazi that is allegedly working on illicit oil sales. earlier in July, NOC had welcomed comments from General Khalifa Hi er expressing support for the Tripoli-based company. Despite this, the Benghazi NOC has continued to rouse Sanalla’s ire, with the o cial claiming that some members of the House of Representatives (HoR) are also involved in attempted illegal oil sales.
One bright spot for NOC came from the petrochemical sector, which saw pro ts to the company surge to $9.02mn, from $3.75mn in May. Oil was the major driver, though, with NOC’s take combined with taxes and royalties amounting to around $1.62bn. e remaining share came from gas and condensate.
Sanalla called for the Libyan Ministry of Planning “to fast-track budget approval for key infrastructure and the development of both discovered and undeveloped projects. is will
allow NOC to continue to grow national oil and gas revenues and meet the critical energy supply needs of the country.”
zawiya
Problems for NOC are evident in Zawiya. e company said there had been a suspected bomb at the headquarters of the Azzawiya Re ning Co. (ARC) on July 15. e device exploded in the o ces of the team working on the second phase of the plant’s development.
None of the sta were injured, NOC said, which went on to condemn “all attempts to intimidate and endanger oil sector workers. e corporation will exhaust all necessary legal means to pursue those behind this attack.”
ere have been uncon rmed reports that the re nery itself has been shut down for almost two weeks as a result of a lack of electricity.
e bombing at the ARC o ces was followed by the declaration of force majeure on oil load- ings at the port of Zawiya. is was announced on July 20 but li ed in the evening of July 21. NOC said a valve connecting the Sharara pipe- line to the port had been closed the day before. Production from el Feel was said to be unaf- fected. e company said the relevant author- ities would search for the perpetrators of the stoppage. is had led to around 290,000 bpd of loadings being prevented, NOC said, costing an estimated $19mn.
In addition to causing loading problems, the stoppage had also disrupted the supply of crude to the Obari power plant.
While NOC is struggling to extend pro- duction, the civil war in Libya continues amid the Libyan National Army’s (LNA) attempts to seize control of Tripoli. A number of LNA ght- ers were killed by a drone in southern Tripoli this week, Reuters said. Turkey is said to have provided some drones to the Government of National Accord (GNA). e LNA claimed to have destroyed such a drone on July 21.™
Libyan performance
2.5 Source: NOC, OPEC 1.4
2 1.5 1 0.5
1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2
00 January February March April May June
NOC income Production
Week 29 23•July•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7
US$ billion
Million bpd