Page 8 - AfrOil Week 39 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

Motaze also described the agreement with Vitol The news agency went on to say that Cam-
as the first phase of SONARA’s effort to pay off all eroon’s government had recently announced
of its debts, saying that the company intended to plans to call a tender for a contract to build a new
sign similar deal with other commodity traders. refinery to supplement SONARA’s only refinery.
Reuters noted that the state-owned firm, which The company wants to build an oil-processing
operates Cameroon’s only oil refinery and has plant with a hydrocracking unit capable of turn-
monopoly control over petroleum product ing out higher-quality fuels.
imports, had racked up a total of CFA1 tril- SONARA’s only refinery, with a through-
lion ($1.48bn) in debts, including CFA261bn put capacity of 42,000 barrels per day (bpd),
($385.54mn) owed to trading partners. has been idle since May 2019. The plant was
Pierre Barbe, Vitol’s director for Africa, taken offline after an explosion in a storage tank
expressed satisfaction with the deal, calling it a sparked a fire that damaged four production
positive signal to the financial sector. “The put- units.
ting in place of a repayment mechanism is well The shutdown has left the country more
perceived by us and the financial community,” dependent than ever on imported fuels, and
he said, according to Reuters. “This will con- this reliance is both burdensome and expensive
tribute much to the confidence among foreign at times when world oil prices are high – as they
investors.” have been this year. ™

PERFORMANCE
PIAC reports Ghana’s petroleum revenues

up 108% y/y in H1 2022

GHANA GHANA’S Public Interest and Accountability interest (CAPI) had accounted for the single
Committee (PIAC) reported on September 27 largest share of first-half revenues at $354.17mn,
that the government had earned $731.94mn or 48.39%, followed by royalties at $190.43mn,
in petroleum revenues in the first half of 2022, or 26.02%; corporate income tax, or 25.46%;
marking a 108% rise on the figure of $350.31mn surface rentals at $687,759 or 0.094%; and over-
posted in the same period of last year. night interest on the Petroleum Holding Fund
During a presentation of the interim results (PHF) at $304,613, or 0.036%.
in Accra, PIAC stated that Ghana had earned According to PIAC data, Ghana’s govern-
nearly as much in the first six months of this year ment distributed $746.88mn in petroleum rev-
as it had done in the whole of 2021, when petro- enues among various state-controlled bodies in
leum revenues totalled $783.33mn. The coun- the January-June period. Some $390.02mn, or
try has brought in some $8.09bn in petroleum 52.22% of the total, went to the Ghana Petro-
revenues since it started extracting oil from the leum Funds (GPFs), with the Ghana Stabili-
offshore zone on a commercial basis, it added. sation Fund (GSF) taking $273.02mn and the
It also reported that carried and participating Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF) $117mn.

Ghana has earned more than $8bn in petroleum revenues to date (Image: Petroleum Commission of Ghana)

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 39 29•September•2022