Page 14 - AsianOil Week 27

AsianOil NRG AsianOil

Oil storage facilities in
the UAE port of Fujairah,
owned by Brooge Energy.

the incident at the 100,000 barrel per day (bpd) Imam Khomeini oil refinery.
plant, which left two dead and seven injured. South Africa’s Sasol is continuing its divest-
The blaze broke out one day after the North ment drive, striking a deal last week to sell its
Gauteng High Court cancelled a controversial 10% share in a Chevron-operated gas-to-liquids
tender for fuel supplies to Pretoria. The court (GTL) plant in Mozambique. It is also seeking
issued this ruling after identifying irregularities a buyer for its share of a pipeline that brings
with the tender, which has given rise to allega- Mozambican gas to South Africa.
tions of fraud and corruption. Like many South African state-owned enter-
prises, Sasol is up to its eyes in debt, meaning the
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping COVID-19 crisis has left it in a difficult position
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for financially. It has responded by fast-tracking its
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. divestment plans.

DMEA: Storage in vogue If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
At the height of coronavirus (COVID-19) lock- the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
downs, oil and fuel storage was more in demand then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
than it has been in decades. The operators of this
storage therefore enjoyed record earnings during Upstream antipathy in Europe
the crisis. Times are changing, and more and more coun-
Brooge Energy, which manages capacity at tries in Europe are clamping down on upstream
the UAE’s Fujairah hub, was already achieving development. Ireland’s new coalition govern-
strong results before COVID-19. The company ment has pledged to outlaw new licences for gas
said last week it had earned $44mn in revenues exploration, less than a year after banning new
in 2019, up 23% year on year. It has both its Phase oil licences. This marks a shift in Irish policy, as
1 and Phase 2 facilities fully booked, the latter the former government last year had defended
group due to start coming into operation in the gas as a “transition fuel.”
second half of this year, meaning it can look for- As the energy transition picks up pace, com-
ward to a further surge in turnover. panies are having to make drastic changes to
Brooge aims to have eight new oil storage their outlooks for oil and gas prices, and some
tanks with a combined capacity of 3.8mn barrels early-stage upstream projects previously seen
up and running by the end of the year. as safe bets now risk becoming worthless. Royal
Iran is targeting an ambitious ramp-up in its Dutch Shell has followed BP in announcing up
petrochemicals capacity over the next year. Offi- to $22bn in impairments after cutting its price
cials say projects worth $11.5bn with a combined forecasts. The charges relate to the major’s inte-
annual production capacity of 25mn tonnes per grated gas business, namely its LNG operations
year (tpy) should be operational by March 2021. in Australia, and upstream activities in Brazil
Iran has found it easier to sells fuels and petro- and US shale basins.
chemicals discretely abroad than oil, amid the It marks an end to an era for the German
US’ ongoing sanctions regime. power sector, after energy giants E.ON and RWE
Tehran has a reputation for making bold and last week completed a $25bn asset swap that
unrealistic predictions. But some progress is began in 2018 – one of the largest deals in the his-
already being seen, with authorities announcing tory of German industry. Under the final stage of
last week the launch of the 140,000 tpy Mian- the transaction, RWE received E.ON’s renewable
doab petrochemicals plant. A new hexane-pro- and gas storage assets. RWE is investing heav-
ducing unit was also brought on stream at the ily in clean energy, with $5.6bn earmarked for

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 09•July•2020