Page 7 - AfrElec Week 05

AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec
Malabo changes schedule for Alen project
E GUINEA
THE government of Equatorial Guinea has said that it hopes Noble Energy (US) and its partners will be able to launch production at the o shore Alen eld before the end of this year.
Noble had originally planned to bring Alen on stream in the rst quarter of 2021, but the Equatoguinean Ministry of Mines and Hydro- carbons indicated in late January that it was hop- ing for an earlier start date. “E orts are underway to accelerate [Alen] gas for delivery by year-end 2020, while currently scheduled for rst quarter 2021,” the ministry said in a statement distrib- uted by the African Energy Chamber.
Gas from the eld will help the Equatorial Guinea LNG (EG LNG) plant on Bioko Island secure adequate feedstock, the ministry said, according to S&P Global Platts. The facility needs a new supplier because its main source of gas – the Alba eld, operated by Marathon Energy (US) – is maturing and producing less.
As of press time, neither Noble Energy nor
EG LNG (nor shareholders in the latter project) had con rmed the report. Noble’s web page still lists the start date for production at Alen as the rst quarter of 2021.
e Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has said that the EG LNG back ll project will make use of gas from two o shore elds, Alen and Aseng. Both contain “stranded” gas reserves; that is, they hold sizeable amounts of gas that are di cult to develop economically.
Alba, by contrast, has been furnishing gas to EG LNG’s single production train, with a capac- ity of 3.7mn tonnes per year (tpy), for years. It has also supplied gas to the other two facilities in the Punto Europa complex – namely, a methanol plant and a gas- red thermal power plant (TPP).
EG LNG exports lique ed gas via tanker from its Punto Europa terminal. is facility has two storage tanks that can hold 145,000 cubic metres and a 350-metre bridge that is the world’s rst LNG pipe-rack suspension bridge.™
FUELS
Tanzania says fuel stocks are growing
TANZANIA
TANZANIA has made concrete progress in its e orts to expand domestic petroleum product stocks, Energy Minister Medard Kalemani said.
Speaking at an awards ceremony for PUMA Energy Tanzania’s fuel retailers, Kalemani said that fuel inventories were now large enough to sustain up to two months of consumption.
“As we are speaking now, the country has a surplus of 197mn litres of diesel to sustain local consumers’ demand for 26 days, 97.2mn litres of petrol that can meet the demand for 38 days and some 130mn litres of jet fuel for 58 days,” he was quoted as saying by Tanzania Daily News.
e minister described these gures as evi- dence that reforms backed by Tanzanian Presi- dent John Magufuli were e ective.
The reform programme provided for the establishment of a new system for bulk procure- ment of re ned fuels, he said.
Tanzanian ports are now capable of handling up to 255,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of petro- leum products, he added. Dar Es Salaam has the capacity to import 165,000 tpy of fuel, while Tanga and Mtwara can import 45,000 tpy each, he said.
Kalemani went on to say that Tanzania had actually reduced the volume of kerosene in its domestic inventories from 800,000 litres to 600,000 litres. The country does not need to store as much kerosene as it used to do because demand for this type of fuel is dropping, he noted.
Many of the consumers who once used ker- osene have now established connections to elec- tricity networks with help from the Rural Energy Agency (REA) or have started using solar energy, he explained.
e minister went on to say that the expan- sion of fuel reserves would benefit PUMA Energy, which is 50% state-owned, by ensuring its ability to satisfy consumer demand. He also urged the company to build new retail outlets in Tanzania’s rural areas.
“[ e] company should think of penetrating up-country hinterlands to open lling stations in [the] Katavi, Mara and Simiyu regions, among others, because that is where most Tanzanians live,” he said. Doing so will “add more revenue to the company and [deliver] more taxes and divi- dends to the government,” he commented
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