Page 8 - AfrOil Week 07 2020

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil
 If these three elds do not come online, Wood Mackenzie said, Nigeria’s nances could su er. ese elds are set to generate more than $2bn per year when they reach peak production, it explained.
At the same time, it said, output levels will also sag. Nigeria needs Preowei, Owowo and Bonga Southwest Aparo to compensate for fall- ing output at mature elds and to add new bar- rels to the total, it argued.
Under these circumstances, said Lennert Koch, Wood Mackenzie’s principal analyst for the upstream sector in sub-Saharan Africa, the West African country ought to assess its options.
“Nigeria is going to enter quite a steep decline in production. In order to keep its revenue up ... it needs to develop additional elds,” he commented.
If Lagos is not careful, Koch said, it may see IOCs shi their focus to other parts of the world where the investment environment is more attractive.
Even though Preowei, Owowo and Bonga Southwest Aparo “are still world-class resources,” he said, “[what] makes some of the other regions more attractive is just higher returns [from] lower costs and less regulatory u n c e r t a i n t y .” ™
POLICY
Liberian fuel crisis rolls on
LIBERIA
LIBERIA is in the grip of a fuel crisis, caused by an error in the accounting of its reserves and import constraints at its main port.
Long queues to lling stations began emerg- ing in late January, as supplies began to dry up. Shortages have put further pressure on the impoverished West African nation’s economy, already reeling from 30% in ation and currency depreciation.
Owing to incorrect stock checks, the country was le with only 1.1mn gallons (5.0mn litres) of fuel in state-run storage facilities in the nal week of last month, Commercial and Industry Minister Wilson Tarpah told Reuters on January 30. e government had thought it had 4.4mn gallons (2.0mn litres) of reserves, he said.
A bigger issue is the fact that Liberia’s main port in the capital Monrovia has been unable to receive large fuel tankers because of unusu- ally shallow waters. Silt and detritus have been building up in the port since summer, AFP reported on February 9, when heavy rains pre- vented crews from dredging. Only ships with a
dra of less than 10 metres can currently dock, according to port authorities, limiting how much fuel can be brought ashore.
Dredging work is now underway, but it is unclear how long it will take to make the port ready for handling larger-sized tankers. As of February 18, the work was continuing. In the meantime, Liberia has reached out to neigh- bouring Sierra Leone for emergency fuel sup- plies. Small-sized tankers carrying gasoline from Sierra Leone arrived in Monrovia on February 14, according to local press, followed by more in the subsequent days. But as of press time, there are no signs of shortages dissipating.
e government has sought to downplay the economic impact of the shortages, with Tarpeh telling AFP on February 9 that they had caused an “economic downtrend,” without providing gures.
e crisis has stoked further anger against President George Weah’s government, which has already faced heavy criticism for the coun- try’s worsening economy.™
Motor fuel has been scarce in Liberia (Photo: The Habari Network)
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 07 19•February•2020