Page 8 - DMEA Week 46 2022

DMEA TERMINALS & TRANSPORT DMEA

The product tanker sustained damage on November 15 (Screenshot from Fleetmon.com)

Tehran and Israel have for years fought a shadow activities of the Iranian-backed Houthis fighting
war in the wider Middle East. Previous drone in Yemen.
attacks blamed on Iran have targeted vessels On November 16, Greek officials confirmed
associated with Israel in the region. two Greek oil tankers — the Delta Poseidon
According to a briefing from Israeli officials, and the Prudent Warrior, held by Tehran since
Iran appears to have carried out the attack with May — had been freed, as well as their sailors.
a Shahed-136 exploding or “kamikaze” drone of Their seizure came after Greece helped US sanc-
the type that have been supplied to Russia for its tions enforcers seize oil from an Iranian-flagged
war in Ukraine. tanker, the Lana.
Iran’s government has not acknowledged the Earlier this week, the international ship regis-
attack on the Pacific Zircon. tries of Djibouti and the Cook Islands, citing US
The strike came just hours after the US navy sanctions, suspended the flags on five oil tank-
announced it had found 70 tonnes of a missile ers for having facilitated oil trade for Hezbollah
fuel component secreted among bags of fertil- militants and Iran’s Quds Force, the non-gov-
iser on a ship bound for Yemen from Iran. The ernmental organisation (NGO) United Against
major seizure could disrupt the ballistic missile Nuclear Iran (UANI) said. ™

REFINING & FUELS
African NGOs urge suspension of Tema LNG

AFRICA A group of African non-governmental organ- 9 outlining its arguments for the scrapping of
isations (NGOs) has called for the suspension the project. “[The] origins of the Tema LNG
of the Tema LNG project in Ghana, arguing project in perverse bid-rigging and attendant
that the deal could end up costing the coun- procurement irregularities have heightened the
try $1.5bn, as government officials have noted corruption risk associated with the project,” the
that there is no immediate demand for the nat- statement said.
ural gas that will be imported via the terminal. The organisations also asserted that Ghana
Tema LNG, whose operator is backed by National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC), the finan-
Helios Investment Partners of the UK and cially strained national oil company (NOC),
African Infrastructure Investment Managers could not afford to continue with the project.
(AIIM) of the Netherlands, is key to Ghana’s “GNPC could be paying between $790mn [and]
plans to become a gas hub. The terminal was $1.357bn a year (based on average 2022 Brent
originally expected to become operational as crude prices) for gas [that] the country doesn’t
early as 2020 but has yet to take delivery of any need,” it said.
LNG. The NGOs have issued a call for the public
The group of African NGOs, convened by release of all contracts and documents related to
the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) the Tema LNG project, as well as all other enti-
and IMANI Centre for Policy Education ties that have commercial connections to the
think-tanks, issued a statement on November initiative.

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