Page 6 - AfrOil Week 22 2021

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

Little had been heard of Nigeria’s plans for co-lo- Africa’s biggest refinery and the world’s largest
cation for several years. single-train unit. It is, therefore, unsurpris-
NNPC announced plans in August 2018 for ing that oil firms are keen to acquire a stake to
private-sector investors to acquire two exist- increase their global refining footprint while
ing disused refineries from overseas, each with guaranteeing crude placement into the Nigerian
capacity of around 100,000 bpd, and relocate market. (However, the Dangote Group has pre-
them close to the ageing state plants at Port Har- viously provided assurances that the refinery’s
court and Warri. purchase of Nigerian crude will not have an
Later that year, it was announced that the impact on the country’s 1.6mn bpd mandatory
investors – a consortium comprising the local export volume allocated by OPEC.)
JIL Engineering & Oil Services Ltd and Amber
Energji Makina Logistics Ltd – had acquired a Equity requirement
refinery from BP and was in storage at Fama- Meanwhile, news of NNPC’s potential involve-
gusta in northern Cyprus. The unit operated at ment in the Dangote plant has received a mixed
Mersin in Turkey until 2004 and was planned reaction in comments provided by numerous
to be re-located to the Port Harcourt complex. senior Nigerian financial figures to local media.
All of this activity points to Abuja finally tak- A few days later, the general manager of
ing a new approach to refining, following many NNPC’s group public affairs division, Dr Kennie
years without success. Obateru, was quoted by local media as saying
that the company was interested in acquiring
Foreign interest stakes in six private refineries. He said that this
Meanwhile, the developer of the new Dangote was in line with a governmental policy directive
Refinery said this week that three foreign com- that stipulates NNPC’s mandatory participation
panies have also made investment overtures. in any privately-owned refinery with a capacity
Speaking to Reuters, Devakumar Edwin, group exceeding 50,000 bpd in order to uphold its duty
executive director at Dangote Industries, said of safeguarding national energy security.
that his company had been approached by Obateru said that five of the six facilities were
NNPC and Western and Middle Eastern oil at the developmental stage, with the Dangote
and trading companies to secure crude supply facility by far the largest.
agreements. According to data from the Department of
He said: “They are seeking to have 20% Petroleum Resources (DPR), only the 150,000-
minority stake in Dangote refinery as part of bpd Bua Refinery & Petrochemical, the 100,000-
collaboration ... so that they can sell their crude.” bpd Resource Petroleum & Petrochemicals
This could represent a combined equity invest- International Inc. and 55,000-bpd Allegiance
ment of $3.9bn in the refinery. However, Edwin Energy and Power Ltd facilities in Akwa Ibom
added that the company is not seeking equity State, the 100,000-bpd Gasoline Associates
shareholders. Rather, he said, it intends to pur- International Ltd unit in Ogun State and Dan-
chase crude from the market. gote currently have active licences to establish
Once complete, the facility will be or approval to construct/relocate. ™

INVESTMENT
Senegal’s government approves

transfer of FAR’s Sangomar stake

SENEGAL AUSTRALIA’S FAR Ltd has secured the Sene- requirements for the transfer related to the ter-
galese government’s approval for its planned sale mination of a third-party contract. (This is prob-
of a minority interest in the Sangomar block to ably a reference to FAR’s previous agreement to
Woodside Energy, another Australian firm. sell the stake to ONGC Videsh Vankorneft, a
In a press release dated May 31, FAR subsidiary of India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL).
explained that Senegal’s Ministry of Petroleum The Australian company struck a deal with the
and Energies had given formal notification of its Indian operator last November, but Woodside
approval for the transfer of the stake in RSSD, exercised its right, as the operator of the block,
the consortium formed to explore and develop to pre-empt the deal. The two Australian firms
Sangomar. “Accordingly, FAR and Woodside are then made arrangements for the transfer in Jan-
moving towards attending to the various out- uary of this year.)
standing completion related matters, with com- With the ministry’s approval in hand,
pletion targeted for the coming weeks,” it stated. Woodside moves closer to acquiring FAR’s hold-
Additionally, it confirmed that it had met all ings in the Sangomar block.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 22 02•June•2021