Page 5 - AfrOil Week 31 2019
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AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil
He explained that the hackers were focusing on “devices, rmware or telecommunications net- works” in oil and gas companies’ supply chains in the hope of nding new ways to compromise them. If the group succeeds on this front, he said, it will gain the ability to break into oil and gas operators’ internal networks through the
back door.
Currently, Brooks added, Dragos has “mod-
erate con dence” that the hackers still lack the ability to disrupt the industrial control net- works that keep thermal power plants (TPPs) and other facilities and infrastructure operat- ing. Nevertheless, he said, the group could use its access to telecommunications systems as a means to stage “precursor” attacks to demon- strate its ability to do so.
Minimising risk exposure
In the event that Hexane decides to target Area 1 or Area 4, Mozambique will su er. Cyberat- tacks would delay the implementation of these two agship projects, thereby slowing the ow of investment into the country’s gas industry. By extension, they would also stem the tide of money into other sectors that provide support to the gas business – construction, housing, trans- port and so on.
Mozambique and other emerging LNG hubs therefore have an incentive to invest in cyber- security services. Moreover, they should also take steps to protect not just oil and gas systems, but also the networks of telecom providers and other utilities that help oil and gas operators stay in business. If they do not do so, they will expose the burgeoning gas sector to unacceptably high levels of risk.
Meanwhile, LNG producers will not be the only entities exposed to such hazards. Gas con- sumption and trading are on the rise in Africa, and as a result others are likely to be a ected. Developments in Senegal show how much fur- ther the problems might go.
Spreading impact
Like other African countries, Senegal hopes to use its gas resources as a springboard for entry into the LNG business.
Following the discovery of commercial reserves in 2014, the West African country’s President Macky Sall began drawing up plans for using gas from the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) eld as feedstock for a gas liquefaction
PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
Closed valve shuts down El Sharara
plant. If all goes well, this facility will begin oper- ating before the end of 2020. is would make GTA one of the fastest LNG projects ever to reach the production stage.
But the field will provide more than raw material for an LNG plant; it will also supply gas to the domestic market. As a result, residential and business consumers will be able to use it for heating and energy, and drivers will be able to use it as motor fuel. Moreover, power stations will be able to use it to generate electricity.
According to President Sall and other gov- ernment o cials, the expansion of access to gas along these lines will bene t Senegal in many ways. It will protect the environment by reduc- ing the consumption of dirtier fossil fuels such as re ned petroleum products, and it will foster economic growth and improve public health by ensuring that Senegal’s citizens and businesses have adequate supplies of electric power.
Cyberattacks could pose a threat to all of these e orts. ey could disrupt the operations of the planned LNG plant and also stymie the development of domestic energy infrastructure. As such, Senegal – and, by extension, the rest of Africa – ought to start drawing up comprehen- sive cybersecurity measures now.
Kosmos Energy
LIBYA’S National Oil Corp. (NOC) said last week that it had suspended production at the El Sharara oil eld because of equipment problems.
The state-owned company explained its decision by stating that it had lost access to the Zawiya export terminal, which lies within the Hamada area in western Libya. It said it had
declared force majeure on oil from El Sharara a er a valve on the pipeline that connects the eld to the terminal was found to be closed late in the evening of July 31.
NOC blamed the incident on “unidenti ed perpetrators,” saying it did not know exactly how the valve had been shut.
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