Page 8 - MEOG Week 04 2021
P. 8
MEOG PERFORMANCE MEOG
Fire engulfs tankers at
Syria’s Homs refinery
SYRIA A major oil fire broke out at an oil depot at Syria’s past. But it did not say whether the latest blast
Homs oil refinery on January 19, spreading to a was the result of an attack.
number of oil tankers, according to state media. While violence has subsided in recent years,
The cause of the fire is unclear, although it attacks by insurgents and rebels on govern-
engulfed seven tankers while they were unload- ment-run oil and gas installations are still rou-
ing oil, according to Syrian Oil Minister Bassam tine. Islamic State militants have been scaling up
Touma. The incident comes as Syria struggles hit-and-run attacks in the Homs area in recent
with serious fuels shortages. Homs is the coun- months. The Russian air force has assisted the
try’s main refinery, with a processing capacity of government by bombing suspected hideouts of
120,000 barrels per day (bpd). militants in the region in recent weeks.
“The company and the refinery are fine,” The Homs refinery and Syria’s other main
Touma told state media. refinery in Banias on the Mediterranean coast
The fire was extinguished by civil defence are both struggling to obtain enough oil to
teams later that day, the Homs governor, Bassam meet the country’s needs. Iranian supplies have
Barsik, said. “There are no human casualties and been unreliable because of sanctions, and most
we are working on containing the spread of the domestic fields are controlled by the US-backed
fire,” he said. Syrian Democratic Force (SDF).
The government has been quick to blame for- Syria has had to ration gasoline and other
eign-backed “terrorists” for such incidents in the fuels following months of shortages.
POLICY
Foreign firms must partner with
locals to win Iran contracts
IRAN IRAN’S Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh may actually create a further stumbling block
this week said that foreign companies would given these companies’ direct or indirect rela-
need to partner with Iranian companies in order tionships with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
to win work in Iran’s oil industry. Corps (IRGC).
Zanganeh, who was quoted by the official Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Head-
energy sector outlet Shana, said that Iran had quarters (KAAC), the engineering arm of the
always welcomed the presence of international hard-line IRGC, was awarded a contract in early
firms in its energy projects. January covering the second, third and fifth
Speaking on the sidelines of the 25th Iran Oil, phases of the 63bn barrel Ahvaz oilfield as well
Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Conference, he as the offshore Reshadat deposit.
added that there were various stipulations under Meanwhile, Mashin Sazi Arak, in which
consideration for allowing companies to work KAAC is known to hold shares, was awarded
in the energy sector, but the most important of a deal for the Bibi Hakimeh oilfield, which has
these would be partnership with a local firm. around 500mn barrels of oil remaining.
This comes as little surprise, given that Iran While the group has interests in various assets
has long implemented an approach of knowl- such as the supergiant South Pars gas field and
edge-transfer on all projects involving interna- Marun oilfield through its reported 812 affili-
tional operators or contractors. ates and subsidiaries, including the high-profile
However, that he said it in the week follow- MAPNA Group, Oil Industries Engineering
ing the swearing into office of US President Joe and Construction (OIEC), Iran Marine Indus-
Biden suggests that Tehran is hopeful that US trial Co. (SADRA), Persia Oil and Gas Industry
sanctions will be removed, in theory allowing Development Co. (POGIDC), Tadbir Energy
IOCs to return. Development Co. and Mashin Sazi, this week’s
That being said, recent deals awarded to local contract award appears to have been the first
companies by the Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) directly awarded to KAAC for several years.
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 27•January•2021