Page 7 - AfrOil Week 23

AfrOil NEWSBASE GLOBAL ROUNDUP (NRG) AfrOil

NRG: Shoots of recovery showing

After a week’s wrangling, OPEC+ has agreed to extend the production cuts agreed for May and June

WELCOME to the fifth edition of NewsBase’s considering the deregulation of gasoline prices
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of amid growing supply shortages that many within
international editors provide you with a snap- the local industry had warned about some weeks
shot of some of the key issues affecting their ago. The Pakistani Energy Ministry’s Petroleum
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s Division has agreed in principle to “completely
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just click deregulate” pricing and marketing of gasoline,
here. local news outlet Dawn reported on June 8. The
Following on from the mayhem of April and paper, citing an official record of the division’s
May reported in previous editions, the mid- talks with oil marketing companies (OMCs),
term future may be a little clearer after the cru- said the ministry had decided to link gasoline
cial OPEC+ meeting which agreed to extend oil prices to the S&P Global Platts Oilgram Price
production cuts up until the end of July. Report of the previous month. This would
The ripples of quota limitations, reduced replace the government’s current method of set-
prices and the changing face of the coronavirus ting prices based on state-owned Pakistan State
(COVID-19) can be seen in all of our monitors. Oil’s (PSO) import bill.
The world as it was before February/March still Australia’s Queensland State has unveiled a
seems a long way off but political issues still raise new natural gas royalty model that will adopt a
their head and will no doubt feature more in the volume-based approach to calculating payments
months ahead. rather the current index-based system. The gov-
ernment has also indicated that it will include a
Asian variations sliding rate scale that will lower rates for domes-
The pandemic has weighed on each of Asia’s tic focused production. The new mechanism will
economies differently and as each country looks be locked in place for five years, though industry
to the future, different strategies are emerging. has already called for the Labor government to
Chinese oil importers have seized on cheap oil match the opposition Liberal Party’s election
prices as economic activity slowly gains momen- pledge of a 10-year freeze on royalties.
tum. Crude imports soared to a new record of
47.97mn tonnes (11.34mn bpd) in May, General If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Administration of Customs (GAC) data showed Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
on June 7, easily outstripping the previous record NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.
of 11.18mn bpd set in November 2019. The May
figure takes daily import averages to 10.54mn Downstream: Nigerian fuel deregulation;
bpd in the first five months; this compares with initiatives in Angola, Iran
the full-year average of 10.17mn bpd in 2019. Nigeria has removed a cap on gasoline pump
The rebound could continue, with commod- prices as it pushes ahead with the deregulation
ity research firm Kpler telling Bloomberg that of its fuel industry. The move aims to encourage
import levels could climb to 14mn bpd in June. private companies to import and sell gasoline,
Pakistan, meanwhile, is reportedly helping to boost the country’s supply security.

Week 23 10•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7