Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 32

LatAmOil NRG LatAmOil

Meanwhile in East Africa, Somalia has launched in 2021. Pertamina is lined up to take over the
its first offshore licensing round. The bidding oilfield’s operatorship next year.
contest will include only seven blocks, instead “What’s clear is the government’s aim is to
of the originally planned 15. The newly created ensure this project runs by 2027,” said Ego. This
Somali Petroleum Authority (SPA) hopes to start date represents a substantial delay from the
wrap up the auctions and sign contracts with original target date of 2024.
new investors by the end of March 2021. “Essentially, Chevron has more attractive
Uganda, by contrast, appears to be less certain opportunities elsewhere, and the project will
about its timeline for oil production. France’s need a new operator before it can progress,”
Total is not likely to make a final investment Wood Mackenzie upstream analyst Andrew
decision (FID) on the development of fields near Harwood told The Jakarta Post on August 6.
Lake Albert until next year at the earliest. As a Indonesia’s problems with attracting foreign
result, construction work on a planned refinery upstream investors are well documented and
with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) is even prompted the government to unveil new
not expected to begin before 2025. plans in December 2019 to allow developers
In Zimbabwe, Australia’s Invictus Energy is to pick between the gross split scheme that was
moving closer to striking a deal for the explo- introduced in 2017 and the pre-existing cost-re-
ration and development of a block known as covery PSCs. The new regulation was approved
Special Grant 4571. The company said earlier on July 15.
this week that it had secured approval for its Whether the government is able to convince
environmental impact assessment (EIA) and Eni to take on Chevron’s stake in IDD in the cur-
the environmental management plan (EMP). It rent climate is uncertain. Harwood said the Ital-
also stated, though, that it had not yet completed ian major “could find synergies with its existing
negotiations on a production-sharing agreement Jangkrik development in the Muara Bakau PSC”.
(PSA). However, Chevron identified late last year
that gas prices were likely to stay lower for
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping longer, prompting its upstream portfolio review
Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for in the first place. The coronavirus (COVID-19)
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. pandemic has only served to distort the global
supply and demand imbalance further, with the
Asia: IOC profits halved after oil collapse global economy in recession and no clear indica-
Indonesia is hunting to replace Chevron in the tion of when events will improve.
Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD), after
the US super-major revealed earlier this year that If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
it had sidelined the natural gas project. Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
The Indonesian Energy Ministry said last NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.
week that it had asked Italian major Eni to
replace Chevron in the offshore project, which DMEA: Crisis in Lebanon
lies in the Makassar Strait. Chevron owns 62% Lebanon has reached out to dozens of countries
of the development, while Eni owns a 20% inter- for financial and humanitarian support, follow-
est and China’s state-run Sinopec holds an 18% ing an explosion last week that flattened much of
stake. The US developer revealed in January Beirut’s port and the surrounding area. Lebanese
that it was looking to sell its stake in IDD, after officials say the blast, which has caused up to
determining that it could not compete with other $15bn of damage, occurred at a warehouse stor-
upstream projects in its portfolio. ing thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
The project involves the Bangka, Gendalo It has left at least 158 people dead, 6,000 injured
and Gehem fields. Bangka came on line in and some 300,000 homeless.
August 2016, but a second phase of the project, a Lebanon is already deep in economic crisis,
$6.98bn development scheme for Gendalo and caused by years of stagnation, government mis-
Gehem, has failed to get off the drawing board. management and corruption, and made worse
The ministry’s acting oil and gas direc- by fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19)
tor-general, Ego Syahrial, said on August 5 that pandemic. The explosion has stoked public
Chevron’s exit from IDD was connected to the anger against authorities, and nationwide pro-
expiry of its licence for the onshore Rokan Block tests led the government to resign on August 10.

Week 32 13•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7