Page 12 - AfrOil Week 36 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

“We are working with regulators and the local was being stolen. Speaking to a joint session of
community to investigate the reported incident,” Parliament in Abuja, he reported that pipelines
he said. “The Diebu Creek [flow station also] leading to the Bonny hub were regularly being
stopped injection into the Trans Niger Pipe- drained of 95% of their contents by thieves who
line (TNP) on February 25, owing to constant direct it to illegal refineries, a practice known
breaches of the TNP by crude oil thieves. The locally as bunkering.
TNP is currently undergoing tests with water “I can tell you in one line, [in] just less than
main flushing.” 200 km, we had 295 illegal connections,” he said.
Return Koma, the chairman of the Perema- Kyari also reported that NNPC Ltd was
biri Community Development Committee, told working with Nigerian authorities to seize the
NAN on September 5 that SPDC had arranged fuel produced in bunkering operations, as well
to make a joint investigative visit (JIV) to the as dispose of the assets held by illegal refiners.
flow station and other affected sites later that “As a result of those activities, we have so far
day. The joint venture will work with the com- with the Nigerian army and other agencies of
mittee to determine the cause of the spill, the government in the security network recovered
amount of oil spilled and the extent of the area 35.8mn litres of crude, 22mn litres of diesel,
affected, he said. 0.15mn litres of premium motor spirit [gaso-
SPDC’s announcement of the investigation line] and 0.76mn litres of kerosene,” he stated.
came just a few days after Mele Kyari, the group “Eleven vessels have been arrested, 30 speed
CEO of Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd boats, 179 wooden boats and 37 trucks. What we
(NNPC Ltd), reported that nearly all of the oil do now [is that] we don’t arrest them. We burn
production slated for transport through the them so that they won’t come back to business
Bonny hub in the southern part of the country again.” ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Namibian energy minister: Orange basin

oilfields may come on stream in four years

NAMIBIA NAMIBIA’S Mines and Energy Minister Tom
Alweendo said on September 2 that the new
hydrocarbon fields discovered offshore in deep-
water sections of the Orange basin earlier this
year contain large and commercially viable
reserves that may begin production in as little
as four years.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the
MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2022 conference in
Dakar, Alweendo stressed that Shell (UK) and
TotalEnergies (France), the operators of the
fields in question, have not yet published any
official reserve estimates for their Orange basin
assets. He noted, though, that both companies
were drilling additional wells and expected to
finish appraisals by the end of the year.
In any event, he said, both fields contain
very large volumes of crude oil and natural gas,
he said. “The companies are cautious but have
talked about commercial quantities in billions
of barrels,” he told Reuters. Graff-1 and Venus-1x were both drilled in the Orange basin (Image: NVentures)
“The commerciality is there,” he added.
“They basically want to make sure that before resources developed.
they commit to production investment, they “Both companies are keen to accelerate the
know what exact quantities are there.” process to production and have both men-
Alweendo went on to say that Shell and tioned that in four years, they should start pro-
TotalEnergies were keen to fast-track their ducing,” he remarked. “It is not something that
Orange basin fields – and not just because of we imposed, but it is something that we have
the Namibian government’s eagerness to see the discussed.”

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 08•September•2022