Page 8 - AfrOil Week 12 2020

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South Sudan defers plans for first licensing round
SOUTH SUDAN
South Africa’s state-owned Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) signed another six-year exploration deal for Block B2.
SFF indicated that it might eventually invest about $1bn in the development of the block and the construction of a 60,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Pagak.
Earlier this year, though, the Ministry of Petroleum said it was committed to taking a different approach. It pointed to plans for the first licensing round, saying that auctions would complement wider efforts to improve transpar- e n c y. ™
SOUTH Sudan’s government has postponed the country’s first licensing round.
The Ministry of Petroleum had said previ- ously that it intended to start accepting bids for 14 sites during the East Africa Oil & Gas Sum- mit, which was scheduled to take place in Nai- robi on March 18-19. Last week, though, Awow Daniel Chuang, the head of the ministry, told reporters in Juba that auctions had been delayed in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan- demic and plunging oil prices.
“We were in the middle of preparing for the first oil and gas licensing round. It was actually planned to be here [in Juba] in March,” he stated.
He also stressed that the country still intended to go forward with the licensing round at the right time. “We are going to defer it, but the plans are still there for us to attract new investors to South Sudan, especially from the Western world,” he said.
Chuang did not say when the Ministry of Petroleum might make another attempt to hold the auctions.
In the past, South Sudan and its national oil company (NOC) Nilepet hammered out deals with would-be investors on an individual basis. That is, it negotiated directly with potential part- ners on exploration and development projects.
This method did bear some fruit. In 2017, Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum concluded a six- year exploration agreement for Block B3, with an eye towards signing a production-sharing agreement (PSA) in the event that commer- cially viable reserves were found. Then in 2019,
PERFORMANCE
Seplat reports profits up, revenues down in 2019
Petroleum Minister Awow Daniel Chuang (Photo: TheNational.ae)
NIGERIA
SEPLAT Petroleum Development, an inde- pendent Nigerian operator, has revealed that its revenues declined while profits rose in 2019.
In its latest annual report, Seplat said that its revenues had amounted to $697.8mn last year, down by 6.5% on the 2018 figure of $746.1mn. It also noted that operating cash flow had dropped to $337.8mn, marking a 32.7% decline on the previous year’s figure of $501.5mn.
Meanwhile, the company’s gross profits came to $395.7mn in 2019, up by 1.2% on the 2018 figure of $391.2mn. Operating profits also rose, climbing by 0.7% year on year from $309.9mn to $312mn, while profits before deferred tax went up by 13.5% from $238.2mn to $270.3mn.
The report explained the results by noting
that Seplat’s revenues had declined in line with fluctuations in world oil and gas prices. 
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 12 25•March•2020