Page 15 - AfrOil Week 39

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

Despite the size of its reserves, he added, Nigeria was quoted as saying by the local press. Nige-
has long been one of the world’s biggest gas-flar- rian authorities will soon begin evaluating offers
ing states. from potential partners and will award the top
The federal government hopes to change bidders permits to access gas that would other-
this pattern, and to this end it has established wise be burned off, he stated.
the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Sylva was speaking shortly before NNPC
Programme (NGFCP) and has developed the announced that it had struck a deal with a local
National Gas Policy, he said. firm, Sterling Exploration and Energy Produc-
tion Co. (SEEPCO), on the extraction and com-
Attracting investors mercialisation of associated gas from the licence
The NGFCP is designed to commercialise area known as Oil Mining Lease (OML) 143.
anti-flaring initiatives by attracting investors to NNPC’s group managing director Mele Kyari
projects that facilitate the delivery of associated hailed the agreement, saying: “The deal will not
gas to the domestic market, he noted. only help reduce gas flaring and its environmen-
“The first phase of the bidding round for the tal hazards, but will also promote gas production
flare sites has reached an advanced stage,” he and utilisation in the domestic market.” ™

Gabon’s oil output rises 3% y/y in H1-2020

NIGERIA GABON’S General Directorate of Economy and down by 39.8% y/y, while Gabonese crude bas-
Fiscal Policy has released a report showing that ket prices averaged $37.28 per barrel, down
the country’s crude oil production rose by 3% 43.1%, it said.
year on year in the first half of 2020. The directorate’s report was made public
According to the report, Gabon extracted just a few days after Vincent de Paul Massassa,
41.01mn barrels of oil between January and Gabon’s Minister of Oil, Gas and Mines, said he
June, equivalent to nearly 225,330 barrels per hoped Japanese companies would submit bids
day. In the same period of 2019, by contrast, it for the onshore and offshore fields included
produced almost 39.82mn bpd, equivalent to in the country’s ongoing licensing round. The
about 218,767 bpd. auctions, which were first opened in Novem-
The country also exported some 37.71mn ber 2018, cover no less than 35 offshore blocks,
barrels (207,223 bpd) of oil in the first half of the including 12 conventional offshore sites and 23
year, equivalent to nearly 92% of total produc- deepwater offshore sites. To date, these blocks
tion. This represented a 5.6% y/y drop on the fig- have attracted offers from 24 companies. ™
ure of 40.29mn barrels (221,465 bpd) recorded
in the same period of 2019.
Around 77% of all the oil exported between
January and June of 2020 went to customers in
Asia, the directorate noted.
According to the report, the rise in crude out-
put stemmed from “improved yields of mature
fields and the good performance of the Simba
field.” Meanwhile, exports declined because of
“the drop in global demand in connection with
the coronavirus [COVID-19] pandemic and the
barrier measures taken by governments to curb
its spread,” the directorate said.
Falling demand also affected the value of
Gabonese oil, it added. Brent prices averaged
$39.72 per barrel in the January-June period, The Simba oilfield performed well in H1-2020 (Image: Tullow Oil)

Sonangol reports profits down in 2019

NIGERIA ANGOLA’S national oil company (NOC) year’s average exchange rate (and about $74mn
Sonangol has reported that its net profits at current rates).
declined significantly in 2019. This marked a 42.5% drop on the 2018 fig-
In its latest annual report, released last week, ure of AOA80bn, equivalent to $316mn at that
the state-controlled firm said it had netted year’s average exchange rate (and about $130mn
AOA46bn in 2019, equivalent to $125mn at that at current rates).

Week 39 30•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15