Page 10 - AfrOil Week 17 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

The MoU will also see Equity provide financial “It is when we fund the entire ecosystem
service solutions for UNOC and its value chain. with a revolving fund that supports the entire
This includes working capital at competitive oil sub-sector that we will solve the problem of
rates to corporates and SMEs in the oil and gas financial inequity such that cash is moving from
value chains. one partner to the other at different stages,” he
Equity Group, which is majority Ken- said.
yan-owned, is a financial service firm in East Parties to the MoU will provide training
and Central Africa whose shares are listed on in financial education and business manage-
the Nairobi and Uganda securities exchanges. ment skills to facilitate access to finance for the
UNOC is mandated to handle the commercial MSMEs and the matchmaking of joint venture
interests of Uganda’s government in the petro- partnerships for players in the oil and gas sector.
leum sector due to the discovery of crude oil. Initiatives such as support to households
UNOC’s chief executive Proscovia Nabbanja and MSMEs to adopt cleaner sources of energy
said the company is partnering with reputable and modern technologies through training and
organisations like Equity Group to bring finan- finance (renewable energy) shall be considered
cial products that are tailored for the SMEs to among others.
participate in the sector. Commercial and industrial sectors will be
Equity Group Managing Director James supported to adopt cleaner efficient produc-
Mwangi said the bank has set aside $6bn for a tion processes and waste management pro-
revolving fund and capacity-building, a com- jects aimed at capturing methane from landfill
ponent for wealth creation around the develop- sites and from agricultural activities (waste to
ment of the oil and gas sector. energy). ™

PERFORMANCE
Libya loses $60mn every day because of

field and port closures, says oil minister

LIBYA CLOSURES imposed on the main oilfields and biggest, and El Feel. Production units in the Zue-
export terminals in Libya are costing the coun- itina, Mellitah and Sarir regions also stopped
try more than $60mn per day, the country’s Oil production due to continued protests, while
Minister Mohamed Oun told Bloomberg on two ports stopped loading tankers. Additionally,
Monday, April 25. several sites in the vicinity of the Zawiya refinery
His statements were in line with announce- were damaged during armed clashes.
ments made a few days earlier by National Oil Demonstrations against Prime Minister
Corp. (NOC), which said that shutdowns were Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the head of the Govern-
causing the country to lose more than 550,000 ment of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli, have
barrels per day (bpd) of production, equivalent intensified over the past few weeks.
to nearly $60mn per day at current crude prices. Oilfield closures in Libya have become a
These are substantial numbers, not least common practice for protesters to express polit-
because oil production accounts for approx- ical demands. Libya is trying to form a united
imately 95% of Libya’s export earnings and government after nearly a decade of turmoil.
because the dip in Libyan supplies is putting The oil-rich country plunged into chaos after
additional pressures on international oil mar- a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, splitting
kets as global shortages continue due to the between rival governments – one in the east,
Russian war in Ukraine. backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar,
Nevertheless, Oun asserted that a govern- and another, UN-supported administration in
ment committee was on track to reach a final the capital Tripoli in the west. ™
agreement soon that would guarantee the con-
tinuity of oil flows, as well as the resumption of
production from the suspended fields.
Libya had previously been extracting more
than 1.2mn bpd. As such, NOC’s estimate indi-
cates that the war-torn country’s output now
amounts to less than 700,000 bpd.
Last week, the NOC declared force majeure
as protests led to the closure of multiple pro-
duction sites, including Sharara, the country’s Production stopped at the Sarir fields (Photo: AGOCO)

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 17 27•April•2022