Page 10 - AfrOil Week 06 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

In the event that Afentra does strike a deal with that we know well and look forward to updating
Sonangol, the statement said, the acquisition the market at the appropriate time on the first
“would be classified as a reverse takeover trans- deal for the company.”
action in accordance with Rule 14 of the AIM Afentra submitted non-binding offers for the
Rules for Companies.” In the meantime, it said, two blocks on September 20, 2021. It was then
until the matter is clarified, AIM will continue named as one of two bidders for Block 23 and
to suspend trading in Afentra’s shares until the one of six bidders for Block 3/05 on October 7,
company clarifies the matter, either by publish- 2021.
ing an AIM admission document or by confirm- Sonangol announced plans to sell minor-
ing that its participation in the bidding process ity shares in the two blocks last June as part of
has ceased. a wider effort to unload part of its holdings in
Paul McDade, Afentra’s CEO, expressed opti- offshore projects. The NOC said it was doing
mism about the talks with Sonangol and said his so in order to raise up to $2bn that it could use
country was continuing to examine other invest- to cover the remaining share of its investment
ment opportunities in other African countries. commitments at the sites in question and also to
“We are pleased that we were selected by Sonan- cover its expenses on other projects.
gol to negotiate for Block 3/05 and Block 23 in At the time, Sonangol announced that it
Angola, and have been working diligently to find intended to sell up to 8.28% of Block 18, 10%
a mutually attractive outcome for both parties,” of Block 15/06, 15-20% of Blocks 3/05 and 4/05,
he stated. “Given our ambition to build an Afri- 30-65% of Block 5/06 and 30-70% of Blocks 23,
can business of scale, we also remain focused on 27 and 31. All eight of these blocks are located
identifying additional value-accretive oppor- in Angola’s offshore zone, in depths ranging
tunities across West Africa and are engaged in from shallow-water to ultra-deepwater. Two of
a number of active acquisition processes. We these sites – namely, Blocks 3/05 and 4/05 – are
continue to screen opportunities in jurisdictions already in production. ™

Uganda in talks with refinery developers

UGANDA UGANDA’S energy minister has held talks with
the consortium developing the country’s first oil
refinery, days after a final investment decision
(FID) was taken on the project to develop the
larger of the two fields that will provide feed-
stock for the plant.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Develop-
ment Ruth Nankabirwa made a visit to Italy this
week to discuss the status of the 60,000 barrel
per day (bpd) refinery at Kabale in Hoima dis-
trict with the Albertine Graben Refinery Con-
sortium (AGRC).
The group holds a 60% share in the $4bn
refinery project with the remainder held by the
Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC) through
its Uganda Refinery Holding Co. (URHC)
subsidiary.
AGRC is comprised of US-based Baker-
Hughes GE, Italy’s Saipem, and Mauritian-reg-
istered Yaatra Africa and Lionworks Group.
“I am delighted [to] work with AGRC, which
started with the signing of the Project Frame-
work Agreement (PFA) for refinery project on
April 10, 2018,” Nankabirwa said. “The refinery
FID in the amended PFA was expected within
41 months from effective date of the agreement
which falls on February 7, 2022,” she added.
The minister commended AGRC for reach- The refinery will have a capacity of 60,000 bpd (Image: Tullow Oil)
ing the pre-front-end engineering and design
(Pre-FEED) performance bond milestones and govt to address the comments raised on the
for completing and submitting the final FEED report to facilitate approval of the FEED by
study last year. the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) as
“I urge the consortium to closely work with required by law,” she said.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 09•February•2022