Page 19 - AfrOil Week 22a 2020

AfrOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrOil
MOVES
African Energy Chamber
welcomes the appointment
of new CEO at
BP Southern Africa
The African Energy Chamber welcomes the new appointment of BP Southern Africa’s new CEO, Taelo Mojapelo. She succeeds Priscillah Mabel- ane, who was notably the first woman in South Africa’s oil history to head up a multinational company.
The appointment is an encouraging step towards promoting the inclusion of women in leadership positions in the oil sector, a move strongly supported by the Chamber which is a signatory of Equal by 30, a commitment by public and private sector organisations to work towards equal pay, leadership and opportunities for women in the sector by 2030.
“The appointment of Taelo Mojapelo is a motivating move by BP Southern Africa,” said NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. “At the Chamber, we have been extremely vocal about the increased par- ticipation of women in the oil and gas sector, particularly in leadership positions. We applaud BP for its continued commitment to supporting this move and we look forward to seeing other oil companies follow suit.”
Prior to being elected as the new CEO of BP Southern Africa, Mojapelo was the head of optimisation and supply at the company and previously held several leadership roles in mul- tinational companies including, Mondelez Inter- national, Kellog’s and DHL.
African Energy Chamber, June 01 2020
COMPANIES
Libya’s NOC comments
on sabotage of oil
and gas facilities
Despite the appearance of technical conse- quences due to illegal oil closures, the collapse of a tank (Surge Tank D101 B) with a capacity of 16,000 barrels in Area GOSP115 of the Al-Sha- rara field required an urgent need to check and maintenance of lines and valves, in order to start maintenance and operations, to prevent the oil sector infrastructure from damage.
National Oil Corp. (NOC) confirms that the armed militia under Abdul Karim Alrou- nie is still preventing the maintenance teams of
Akakos Oil Operations Co. from carrying out work as of the date of this statement.
As NOC still warns of the severe damage regarding the continuation of the current sit- uation in the infrastructure of the oil sector, it demands that the people responsible back-off from the site immediately and allow the mainte- nance teams to carry out their duty.
NOC has addressed both the Attorney Gen- eral’s Office and the Ministry of the Interior to take all the required and necessary legal meas- ures against Abdul Karim Alrounie and against everyone involved with him in the above-men- tioned crime.
It is worth-mentioning that NOC has worked tirelessly with its partners during the past years to assist most of the local communities in the areas surrounding the oil operations through social development programs, in which the city of Zintan had a share in it like the rest of the other cities.
At a time when NOC is fulfilling its national duty towards these societies, it expects them to provide the fundamental support needed to continue operations aimed at supporting the national economy, not to allow a handful of criminals and seekers of self-interest who claim to have a tribal cover that would allow them to tamper with and damage the wealth of the Lib- yan people.
As the losses due to the closure of the facili- ties and transmission lines to date have exceeded more than $5bn, of which $1.7bn are losses resulting just from of the closure of the Sharara and El-Feel fields, which foretells an economic disaster that will bring Libya to its knees as a result of these irresponsible acts. Therefore, NOC implores the honorable people in the city of Zintan once more to up-lift the social, tribal and legal cover off of Abdul Karim Alrounie and his militias and to assist the security and judicial agencies in arresting them and bringing them to justice.
NOC stresses the need to cease all oppressive
closures of its facilities immediately, given the real danger it poses to the infrastructure of the oil sector and to the economic security in general for Libya.
NOC, June 1 2020
ReconAfrica issues COVID-19 operations update
Reconnaissance Energy Africa is pleased to provide an operational update. This operations report is to announce operational activities and plans arising from changes to coronavirus-re- lated restrictions in Namibia. Following the Namibian government’s announcement that the country will begin to gradually reopen from Tuesday, May 5, domestic travel is now permit- ted within the country.
In recent days, ReconAfrica’s local person- nel have taken this opportunity to return to the Kavango Basin region for site preparations at two of the Company’s selected drilling locations. Per- sonnel also arranged for the distribution of food hampers and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to one hundred families living in the vicin- ity of the Company’s first drilling location.
“We are pleased to provide food parcels and sanitary products to families in Kawe in Kavango East,” said Yusneurys Perez Martinez, ReconAfrica’s Deputy General Manager, based in Namibia. “We are gratified by the welcome we have received from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Governor’s office, and council and traditional authorities.”
“As part of the Northeast Namibian com- munity, it is our responsibility to help as we can during these unprecedented times,” said the Company’s COO Scot Evans. “The food ham- per and PPE distribution is just part of what the Company will be doing to aid local citizens dur- ing our upcoming operations in Kavango Basin.”
International travel and admission of foreign nationals remain restricted in Namibia, but the Namibian government guidance is that further easing of restrictions could come as soon as June 1. In anticipation that Namibian and inter- national restrictions will be lifted during the summer, ReconAfrica is continuing its opera- tional planning for the drilling of its first well in Namibia in the fourth quarter of 2020. For recent information on the Kavango Basin, please see the latest research report on ReconAfrica’s website by Mark Heim, CFA.
ReconAfrica is a junior oil and gas company engaged in the development of the newly dis- covered Kavango Sedimentary Basin, in north- east Namibia, where the Company holds a 90% working interest (from surface to basement) in a petroleum licence, comprising approximately 6.3mn contiguous acres.
ReconAfrica, May 26 2020
Week 22 03•June•2020
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P19