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which made an unsuccessful attempt to sell its own from 2.5mn tpy to 9.5mn tpy. The size of the
minority stake to Russia’s Lukoil earlier this year. project, as well as its price tag, were ramped up
after the government dictated that the proposed
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping floating LNG (FLNG) design must be sideline in
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for favour of an onshore terminal.
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor .
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
AsianOil: Abadi supply deal Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
Indonesia’s state-owned distributor Perusahaan NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor .
Gas Negara (PGN) has signed a preliminary
agreement to buy natural gas from Japanese DMEA: South African refinery blast
developer Inpex’s Abadi field, which lies in the An explosion rocked an oil refinery in Durban,
offshore Masela block. South Africa, on December 4, injuring seven
The head of upstream regulator SKK Migas, people. The blast occurred at 05:10 GMT and
Dwi Soetjipto, revealed on December 3 that the the ensuing fire was put out by 06:45 GMT. Local
two firms had signed a memorandum of under- residents described seeing a large fireball at the
standing (MoU) on domestic gas supplies. centre of the refinery, followed by billowing
The official, who made the announcement black smoke.
during the 2020 International Convention on The extent of damage to the facility, capable of
Indonesian Upstream Oil & Gas (IOG 2020), processing up to 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) of
said the Abadi project was key to helping the oil, is unclear as of press time. Its operator Engen,
government reach its 2030 target of producing majority-owned by Malaysia’s Petronas, issued a
12bn cubic feet (339.84mn cubic metres) per day statement saying it was investigating the cause
of gas in 2030. of the incident.
Inpex, meanwhile, said the following day that South Africa hosts six refineries in total, four
discussions with the gas infrastructure operator of which run on crude oil and two on synthetic
regarding a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) fuel. But the country is a net importer of petro-
would now begin. leum products.
The Masela block, located in the southeast- Another fire broke out in July at a 100,000
ern Arafura sea, is the foundation for a planned bpd refinery owned by local fuel supplier Astron
9.5mn tonne per year liquefied natural gas Energy in Cape Town, leaving two dead and
(LNG) terminal as well as another 1mn tpy of seven injured.
local gas supply and up to 35,000 barrels per day Over in Egypt, Italy’s Eni has reached deals
(bpd) of condensate production. Masela is esti- with Spain’s Naturgy and its Egyptian partners
mated to hold 10.7 trillion cubic feet (303.02bn that pave the way for the restart of the shuttered
cubic metres) of proven gas reserves. Damietta LNG plant.
Inpex Masela, in which Inpex owns a 51.93% Damietta LNG is capable of exporting 5mn
interest, operates the block with a 65% stake. tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG but was made
Royal Dutch Shell owns the remaining 35%, but idle in 2012, at a time when Egypt did not have
is reportedly interested in selling its share. enough gas to meet its domestic needs, lead-
In July, SKK Migas confirmed reports that ing to a long-running legal dispute. Its owner
Royal Dutch Shell intended to divest its 35% stake is SEGAS, which is 80%-controlled by Union
in the Masela Block, noting that low oil prices Fenosa Gas (UFG), a 50:50 joint venture between
and COVID-19 related development delays had Eni and Naturgy.
prompted the exit plans. The super-major was Under the agreements, UFG’s interest will be
reported in late June as being interested to sell- divided between Eni and Egyptian Natural Gas
ing its stake for $2bn, with Inpex’s interest only Holding (EGAS), leaving Eni with a 50% stake
extending as far as a $400mn investment. in Damietta LNG and EGAS with 40%. Egyptian
The government last year approved the con- General Petroleum Corp. (EGPC) controls the
sortium’s revised plan of development for the remaining 10%. Naturgy will receive a series of
project, which scaled up the terminal’s capacity cash payments worth $600mn in total in return.

Week 49 10•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P5