Page 8 - Downstream Monitor - MEA Week 43

DMEA sUPPly DMEA
Gas production set to rise soon at Libya’s Faregh field
afRiCa
WAhA Oil Co. (WOC), a subsidiary of Libya’s National Oil Co. (NOC), has begun test oper- ations for the second phase of development at Faregh, a natural gas and condensate field.
According to WOC, the test programme will help push output levels up at Faregh from 70mn cubic feet (1.98mn cubic metres) per day, the average level reported at the end of first-phase work, to 250 mcf (7.08 mcm) per day in just two weeks. The field is also set to yield 15,000 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate during sec- ond-phase operations, the company added.
WOC launched testing on October 23 by pumping gas to an oilfield known as Intisar-103. The next step will be to transport gas from Inti- sar-103 to the pipeline network that runs along Libya’s Mediterranean coast, it said.
Initially, WOC will use output from Faregh for a gas-injection programme at Intisar-103. It intends to inject the gas into this field to help maintain reservoir pressure and improve pro- duction rates. Later, it may be able to use the coastal pipelines to deliver additional volumes to customers in Libya’s eastern regions. Among
the potential buyers are thermal power plants (TPPs), which are currently using more costly and less environmentally friendly petroleum products for fuel, along with manufacturers of methanol and the Libyan Norwegian Fertiliser Co. (LifeCo) in Marsa el Brega.
Mustafa Sanalla, the chairman of NOC, said he was pleased with WOC’s progress at Faregh. “WOC has finally overcome difficulties to com- plete this vital project after long delays caused by shutdowns and unstable security conditions in the country,” he said. “I congratulate WOC man- agement and employees for their achievement.”
Sanalla added: “NOC will continue to take steady steps towards our objectives – conditional on improved security, as well as timely and ade- quate financing and investment.”
Ahmed Abdallah Ammar, the chairman of WOC’s management committee, also expressed his satisfaction with the testing programme at Faregh.
“I would like to thank all WOC employees for their hard work, as well as NOC for its continu- ous support to complete this project,” he said.™
inVestment
Eskom reform plans do not go far enough
afRiCa
TRANSMISSION is set to be broke off from South Africa’s eskom as the government has committed itself to reforming the debt-ridden utility giant.
The government’s intentions for eskom came just after it published its new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which calls for renewables to play a major role in the country’s energy future.
Relationships between eskom, the govern- ment’s IRP and the country’s increasingly pow- erful green lobby are difficult. energy Minister Gwede Mantashe refused to say this week that the first bid round under the IRP would give preference to green technology.
eskom reforms
The government’s special paper on eskom was released on October 29, with Public enter- prises Minister Pravin Gordhan revealing that eskom’s unbundling would begin with the cre- ation of a separate transmission system operator (TSO). This would have its own CeO and board, although it would come under an eskom-run umbrella body.
The TSO would improve transparency by both performing TSO functions and buying power competitively from generators in a bid to drive power prices down.
The reforms would also create a more level playing field for independent, often renewable, generators.
“The paper is strong on vision, but the mar- ket is marginally disappointed that the transmis- sion system market operator isn’t fully spun out and that there was no more detail on the debt,” Peter Attard Montalto, head of capital markets research at Intellidex, told Reuters.
“There are question marks around the paper’s acceptance across the political spectrum, includ- ing with unions,” he added.
The eskom model is following established practice worldwide, with the TSO acting in many ways as a “natural monopoly,” while fos- tering the emergence of a competitive generation and supply market that is open to new entrants.
The plans call for the TSO to be up and run- ning by March 2020, with the unbundling into generation, transmission and supply complete
P8
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 43 31•October•2019