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SECURITY & POLICY see the former take 15mn cubic metres (mcm) Earlier in October, Nigerian National Petroleum
per day from the latter. Co. Ltd (NNPCL) revealed that it had shut down
Iranian lawmaker suggests and Turkmenistan. Energy swap deals help the bna/IntelliNews, October 19 2022
Iran also has gas swap deals with Azerbaijan the operations of 395 illegal refineries.
country could serve as hub participating countries gain from geographical
advantages by cutting energy transit fees.
for Russian oil, gas bne/IntelliNews, October 17 2022 COMPANIES

An Iranian lawmaker has suggested that the Nigeria defends decision to Sasol, ArcelorMittal
country could serve as a hub for the transit of
Russian gas as Russia’s existing options for destroy captured oil vessel seal partnership to
pumping gas to markets become more limited.
“As one of the largest exporters of oil and gas It was right to destroy the illegal oil bunkering decarbonise operations
in the world, [Russia] is a strategic partner of Iran vessel found with 650,000 cubic metres of stolen
in various energy sectors,” Alireza Varnaseri, a crude oil, Nigeria’s chief of defence staff, General South African chemicals and fuels producer
member of the Iranian parliament’s commission Lucky Irabor, has claimed. Sasol and steelmaker ArcelorMittal South Africa
for energy, told the state-owned Shana news Last week, a private security team contracted have partnered to explore the development of
agency. “Co-operation between Iran and Russia to protect an oil pipeline on the Escravos River carbon capture technology to produce sustaina-
helps in the development of Iranian oil and gas discovered a vessel carrying illegally lifted crude ble fuels and steel through green hydrogen.
fields ... Iran can be a hub for transiting Russian oil. The ship was then destroyed by the Navy They will advance a study on the possibility
oil and gas products to other countries.” after its captain, Temple Manasseh, confessed of utilising ArcelorMittal’s Saldanha steelworks
Russia is scrambling to find other markets for that the oil was stolen. as an export hub for green hydrogen and deriva-
its oil and gas supply amid the severing of energy Some have, however, criticised the decision to tives, as well as green steel production. A second
ties with Europe. The suggestion from Iran destroy the vessel, suggesting that it deliberately study will explore the use of renewable electricity
comes days after Russian President Vladimir prevented a full investigation from taking place and green hydrogen to convert captured carbon
Putin proposed establishing Turkey as a hub for as vital evidence was destroyed. from ArcelorMittal’s steep plant into sustainable
delivering gas supply to Europe following the Speaking on October 14, General Lucky Ira- fuels and chemicals.
demise of the Nord Stream pipelines at the end bor noted that the Navy acted according to the “We are very excited to be leading the pre-fea-
of September. rules and didn’t need to carry out any investiga- sibility and feasibility studies on these two poten-
Moscow and Tehran have sought to bolster tion because the ship was caught in the act. tial projects that hold promise to unlock South
their energy ties, with Gazprom recently signing According to Human rights lawyer Marshall Africa’s potential to be a global green hydrogen
a $40bn deal to invest in Iran’s oil and gas indus- Abubakar, the move is highly suspicious. “Why and derivatives player,” said Priscillah Mabelane,
try. The two sides have also discussed a gas swap the hurry in destroying this vessel?” Abubakar executive vice president for Sasol’s energy busi-
arrangement that would see Iran take around said, as quoted by Voice of America (VOA). ness. “These studies are anchored by the local
15mn cubic metres per day of Russian gas. “There have been allegations that the menace need for green hydrogen and sustainable prod-
bne/IntelliNews, October 19 2022 of oil theft is being perpetrated by persons in ucts, cementing Sasol as the leading contributor
authority. The hurried destruction lays credence to the development of southern Africa’s green
Iran, Kazakhstan to to that particular allegation.” hydrogen economy.”
Oil theft is a serious threat to the Nigerian
Sasol, listed in New York and Johannesburg,
resume crude oil swap economy, which relies on exports. The sector is the world’s top producer of chemicals and
has been marred by rising crude theft in recent fuels from coal while ArcelorMittal, also traded
abandoned 10 years ago months, causing Nigeria’s average crude produc- in Johannesburg, is Africa’s top steelmaker. Their
tion to fall to under 1mn barrels per day (bpd) in operations have a substantial carbon footprint
Iran and Kazakhstan have agreed to resume an August, down from a previous high of 1.8mn. and both are transitioning to cleaner energies.
oil swap some 10 years after the deal stalled due
to technical difficulties and disagreements over
the division of proceeds, Iranian official media
reported on October 15.
The resumption was agreed during Iranian
President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit last week to
Astana to attend the 6th summit of the Confer-
ence on Interaction and Confidence Building
Measures in Asia (CICA).
In the local media reports on the agreement,
there was no discussion of how US sanctions
might affect it.
The Iranian government halted swap ship-
ments under the deal 10 years ago, reportedly
because the contracts did not allow Tehran to
benefit proportionally from rising oil prices.
In late September, Iran and Russia agreed to
implement a gas swap arrangement which would

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