Page 10 - AfrOil Week 25 2022

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

At full capacity, Sharara can pump around revenues among all regions.
300,000 bpd, while Sarir’s current production Additionally, oil workers have repeatedly
level is estimated at 270,000 bpd, Oun noted. expressed discontent, as their wages have not
The minister had said last week that the closure always been paid on time.
of Libya’s main oilfields and ports was bring- Libya’s state oil concern, National Oil Corp.
ing production levels down by nearly 1.1mn (NOC), declared force majeure in April after
bpd and causing the country to lose more than protests led to the closure of multiple produc-
$60mn per day. tion and export facilities. In early June, demon-
Output has also come down for more mun- strators forced workers to shut down two key oil
dane reasons. For example, delayed mainte- ports, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf. ™
nance budgets were allegedly responsible for a
recent pipeline leak at the Sarir Tobruk oilfield
that led production to fall by 22,000 bpd for a
couple of days.
Major European importers of Libyan oil have
been hoping to see the North African country
raise production to help compensate for supply
constraints arising from the Russia-Ukraine
war. In recent weeks, however, Libya has seen
output sink from its 2021 average of 1.2mn bpd.
The decline stems from repeated closures at
the country’s main oilfields, export terminals
and port facilities as a result of protests, political
power struggles and other disruptions. Demon-
strations have erupted in some locations, with
participants demanding fair distribution of oil Libya has experienced mutliple port and pipeline closures since April (Photo: NOC)

Ghana faces possible fuel shortage

as central bank rations US dollars

GHANA GHANA is facing a looming fuel shortage as the down from $9.7bn in December 2021, and is
Bank of Ghana (BoG) rations scarce US dollars reluctant to spend greenbacks on importing
since a spike in the price of oil following Russia’s fuel, Bloomberg reports.
invasion of Ukraine, Bloomberg reports. The Ghanaian cedi became the worst-per-
The country’s monthly petroleum product forming currency on the continent, depreciat-
import bill rose from $250mn in January to ing by 22% against the US dollar this year alone,
$450mn in May, the report noted, citing two contributing to 27.6% year-on-year inflation in
anonymous sources. Meanwhile, the BoG is May, the highest level in more than 18 years, as
offering $100mn at its foreign exchange auc- well as huge interest payment on public debts.
tions, rendering licenced bulk oil distributors Meanwhile, Senyo Hosi, head of the Ghana
unable to make up the shortfall in the black Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD),
market, which would be a violation of BoG told JoyNews that stakeholders, including the
regulations. BoG, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA)
The central bank is hoping to boost its for- and the Ministry of Energy, have been working
eign reserves, which stood at $8.34bn in April since March to stave off potential fuel shortages.

The central bank’s move to ration dollars has kept fuel distributors from meeting demand (Photo: Bank of Ghana)

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 22•June•2022