Page 12 - AfrOil Week 40 2022

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

Tripoli government signs initial

exploration deals with Turkey

LIBYA LIBYA’S Tripoli-based Government of National Libya estimated to be worth $16bn.
Unity (GNU) and Turkey signed preliminary Libya was plunged into chaos after the
agreements on October 3 to boost co-opera- Arab Spring in 2011 that ousted ex-dictator
tion between the two countries that included Moammar Qaddafi and was split between rival
potential energy exploration in maritime areas, governments – one in the east, backed by mil-
but the eastern-based parliament in Benghazi itary commander Khalifa Haftar, and another,
rejected the deals, according to news portal UN-supported administration in the capital
Al Arabiya. The Benghazi parliament said the Tripoli in the west.
agreements are illegal, as they were signed by a The North African country is currently in a
government that had no mandate. state of uncertainty over the fate of the political
Both countries agreed earlier in 2019 to process in the light of its failure to conduct pres-
establish an economic zone sharing a maritime idential and parliamentary elections on Decem-
border, but the move angered gas producers ber 24, 2021, as had been planned earlier. ™
Greece, Cyprus, Egypt and Israel. It is not clear
that the agreements signed on Monday will
allow further movement towards establishing
such a zone.
Turkey has repeatedly said that no third
country has the right to intervene in its agree-
ments in Libya.
Turkey has supported the GNU under PM
Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, whose legitimacy is
disputed by the Libyan parliament, which backs
an alternative administration.
Libya and Turkey have strengthened their
ties in the past few months. Cruises between the
two countries are due to start at the end of Sep-
tember, with visa cancellation expected. Turk-
ish exports are increasing and were estimated to
have reached over $2bn by the end of 2021.
The countries signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) in August 2020 to final-
ise 184 stalled Turkish construction projects in Turkey and Libya signed a maritime border agreement in 2019 (Image: MFA.gov.tr)

Debate swirls in Ghana over minister’s

“diversion” of $100mn in oil revenues

GHANA ATTA Akyea, chairman of the Mines and upfront a loan used in the acquisition of the
Energy Committee of Ghana’s Parliament, has shares from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (US),
said that allegations by opposition lawmakers he noted.
that $100.7mn in revenues from crude oil sales GNPC acquired the stake in 2021 and report-
from the first quarter of 2022 remains unac- edly subsequently ceded it to a newly formed
counted for or was improperly “diverted” are subsidiary, Jubilee Oil Holdings Ltd (JOHL),
misplaced. which is based in the Cayman Islands. JOHL
The revenues from the 7% stake held by made its first lifting, consisting of 944,164 bar-
Ghana National Petroleum Corp. (GNPC) rels of crude oil, from the Jubilee field in the
7% stake in the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme first half of 2022. The value of that shipment
(TEN) and Jubilee oilfields were used to settle amounted to more than $100.7mn.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 06•October•2022