Page 9 - AfrOil Week 50 2021

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

“What the directive means to a company like Addressing the 7th edition of the Ghana Gas
GOIL is shaving off GHS9mn in one month if Forum held in Accra, Hamis said about 1,500
you look at GOIL’s volumes of around 60mn global investors had pulled out of investing in
litres monthly,” he said. “GOIL is listed, and as the industry. “They will not fund dirty fuel,” he
a listed entity with other ordinary Ghanaians as remarked.
shareholders ... We think the approach and how He also disclosed that investment in renewa-
it has been done so far can only create problems ble energy had grown to $298bn, with fossil fuels
for all of us downstream.” consuming around $130bn.
Amoah further called for more sustainable “Renewable energy is now gaining momen-
measures towards reducing fuel prices while tum, but already, funding commitments are now
urging Accra to desist from loading taxes on much bigger than fossil fuels. Global spending
fuel prices. on hydrocarbons based on power generation
continues to reduce, whereas commitment and
GNPC manager comments on funding funding to renewables continues to increase,” he
In related news, Hamis Ussif, the manager for said.
gas business at Ghana National Petroleum Corp. Hamis further commented: “Tesla, a com-
(GNPC), has said that the decision by global pany set up only in 2003, has become one of
financiers to move away from funding dirty the biggest companies, and as at October 26, its
hydrocarbons presents a challenge to the oil and market capitalisation reached $1 trillion, while
gas industries of countries like Ghana. we have the likes of Ford [and Toyota] struggling
He said that financiers, globally, appear to be due to the onslaught of Tesla.”
shying away from funding oil and gas produc- However, he also said he believed it was
tion. Climate change and threats to the environ- necessary for oil and gas companies around
ment have led to a global campaign to shift to the world to begin transitioning into general
renewable energy such as solar, or production energy companies. Even GNPC is considering
of electric cars, among others, he commented. this option too, he said. ™

NNPC discloses refining expenditures

NIGERIA NIGERIAN National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC)
disclosed its operational expenditures dur-
ing the first 10 months of 2021 earlier this
week, showing that it had spent NGN83.33bn
($202mn) on rehabilitating its refining facilities.
The first contracts for the overhaul of the
company’s currently defunct refining slate,
which amounts to 445,000 barrels per day (bpd),
were signed in April. Following years of oper-
ating at near-zero utilisation, the four refineries
– two at Port Harcourt, one at Kaduna and one
at Warri – were taken offline completely in 2019.
NNPC has budgeted NGN100bn ($245mn)
for the full year, and expenditure appears to be
on track to utilise the full allocation.
The Nigerian government secured a $1bn
loan from Cairo-based African Export-Import One of NNPC’s four oil refineries at Port Harcourt (Photo: NNPC)
Bank (Afreximbank) in February. It awarded
a $1.5bn engineering, procurement and con- site, as well as “relevant engineering and plan-
struction (EPC) contract for the project to Ita- ning activities.”
ly’s Maire Tecnimont in April to return the Port NNPC’s facilities at Warri and Kaduna
Harcourt Refining Co. (PHRC) complex to 90% have throughput capacities of 125,000 bpd and
of its capacity by 2023. 110,000 bpd respectively. Contracts for the
The facility has a theoretical nameplate overhaul were awarded to Italy’s Saipem and
capacity of 210,000 bpd, comprising a 60,000 subsidiary Saipem Contracting worth a total
bpd unit built in 1965, known as Area 5, and a of $1.485bn – $898mn for Warri and $587mn
newer unit built in 1989 which is capable of pro- for Kaduna – in August that entail a three-phase
cessing 150,000 bpd of crude. approach to rehabilitate the refineries over 77
The Italian company had carried out a 50mn, months.
six-month “integrity check” in 2019, with fellow Given NNPC’s patchy history of operating
Italian firm Eni contracted as technical adviser. these state facilities, state investment in rehabil-
This work included equipment inspection at the itating the refineries has been a thorny issue.

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