Page 12 - DMEA Week 45 2022

DMEA REFINING & FUELS DMEA

OPEC sees Africa adding 1.2mn bpd

of refining capacity in medium term

AFRICA OPEC has said, in the latest edition of its World projects have the potential to benefit Africa,
Oil Outlook report, that Africa is on track to add World Oil Outlook commented, as they could
1.2mn barrels per day (bpd) of primary refin- help meet the growing demand for fuel in many
ing capacity in the medium term, with Nigeria’s African countries, while also reducing net
Dangote Refinery accounting for more than half importers’ reliance on foreign suppliers. This
of the total. dependence has proven to be very financially
According to the report, the Dangote Refin- burdensome this year, as the price rises that have
ery project is the largest downstream project followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have made
slated for completion in Africa by the end of this imported fuel very expensive.
decade. It envisions the construction of a refin- Some African states have responded to the
ery in the Lekki Free Trade Zone (FTZ) near price rises by subsidising petroleum product
Lagos, and it will eventually have a capacity of costs, but others have not.
650,000 bpd. It is slated to come on stream in As a result, they have had to weather the dis-
2023 with an initial capacity of 560,000 bpd. content of consumers hit by inflation for many
Although the Dangote Refinery is a newbuild types of basic goods – not just fuel, but also food,
plant, World Oil Outlook notes that both new- which has become more costly as a result of the
build and expansion projects will contribute to Russia-Ukraine war. ™
the expansion of Africa’s refining capacity in the
medium term. Egypt’s 160,000-bpd expansion
programme at MIDOR and Algeria’s 110,000-
bpd expansion programme at Hassi Messaoud
will add distillation capacity, it states.
On the newbuild side, it adds, the Republic of
Congo will be constructing a 110,000-bpd plant
in Pointe Noire while Angola will be construct-
ing a 100,000-bpd plant in Soyo and Guinea will
be building a 10,000-bpd plant in Brahms.
Meanwhile, it states, Nigeria, Ghana and Sen-
egal intend to build and commission a number
of small modular facilities, some of which may
be able to handle as much as 20,000 bpd each.
These refinery construction and expansion The Dangote Refinery will process 650,000 bpd (Photo: Twitter/@NMDPRAtweets)

Kosmos Energy: GTA Phase 1 preparations

about 85% complete as of end-September

AFRICA US-BASED Kosmos Energy has estimated that installed the living quarters platform and have
preparations for launching Phase 1 work at the begun commissioning activities, it explained.
Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim (GTA) block offshore Additionally, it said, BP has drilled all four
Senegal and Mauritania are about 85% complete of the development wells that will pump natu-
as of the end of the third quarter of 2022. ral gas to the hub. (One of the wells was recently
In a report on its interim results published completed, and gas was allowed to flow to the
November 7, Kosmos said that Phase 1 of the rig during a “short clean-up period,” it noted.)
GTA project, which is operated by BP (UK), These new wells brought production capacity up
“continues to make good progress.” As of Sep- to 700mn cubic feet (19.8mn cubic metres) per
tember 30, it reported, the partners had largely day, significantly above the level of 400 mcf (11.3
wrapped up work on the offshore facility that mcm) per day needed to sustain gas liquefaction
will serve as a gas hub at the block. They have during Phase 1 of the GTA project, it added.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 10•November•2022