Page 19 - DMEA Week 01 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Waltersmith secures Seplat

oil for Nigerian refinery

NIGERIA PRIVATE Nigerian firm Waltersmith has struck refinery in late November. In addition to vol-
a deal to obtain crude oil supplies for its modular umes from Seplat, the plant also runs on crude
The deal covers 2,000- refinery in Nigeria’s Imo State from independent from Waltersmith’s marginal Ibigwe field.
4,000 bpd of supply. producer Seplat Petroleum. Nigerian authorities are eager to expand the
Seplat said in a statement it had agreed to use of modular refineries, as a means of com-
provide 2,000-4,000 barrels per day (bpd) of mercialising small-sized fields that have been
crude from the Ohaji South field, situated at the passed over for development, as well as reducing
onshore OML 53 block. The field’s output was the country’s fuel import bill. Despite its status as
previously delivered to an export terminal via Africa’s biggest crude producer, Nigeria has only
a crude handling agreement with Waltersmith. limited working refining capacity.
Direct sales to the refiner will reduce crude losses Waltersmith’s refinery produces diesel, kero-
and downtime along the export route, Seplat sene, naphtha and residual fuel oil. The company
said. is already working on an expansion, involving
“We are delighted to sign this crude pur- the construction of a 25,000 bpd condensate
chase agreement with Waltersmith, as it refinery. There are also plans for a second 20,000
ensures that Nigerian crude will be refined bpd crude-processing train, which would bring
locally by a Nigerian refiner,” Seplat CEO overall refining throughput to 50,000 bpd.
Roger Brown said. “The agreement will elim- Waltersmith also signed a technical support
inate losses we previously experienced on the agreement in November with the United Nations
export pipeline, meaning more revenue will be Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)
booked by Seplat for the same amount of oil and the United Nations Economic Commis-
produced from the field. Waltersmith’s refin- sion for Africa (UNECA) on establishing an
ery will also benefit the Nigerian economy by industrial park. This park would host various
creating jobs to refine our oil.” manufacturing plants that use hydrocarbons as
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari held feedstock, including for petrochemicals produc-
a launch ceremony for Waltersmith’s 5,000 bpd tion. ™

Kenya, Eni discuss biofuel

production in Mombasa

KENYA KENYA has held talks with Italian oil major Eni African refiners have considered such a move.
on the potential conversion of its mothballed The 80,000 barrel per day (bpd) Mombasa
The refinery was closed refinery in Mombasa to biofuel production. refinery, built in 1959, was closed down in 2013
in 2013 as it was Eni said on December 18 that its CEO Clau- as it was unable to compete with fuel imports.
unable to compete with dio Descalzi had talked about the project and The facility’s then-operator, India’s Essar Energy,
fuel imports. various other green initiatives in a meeting with blamed the government for not enforcing a deal
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. They dis- to make local suppliers buy fuel from the plant. A
cussed a multi-year plan to collect waste and $1.3bn upgrade plan aimed at making the refin-
agricultural residue, which are ideal feedstocks ery competitive had earlier been abandoned.
for biofuel production, Eni said. These raw mate- Tullow Oil had been storing crude from the
rials could be used to develop biodiesel, bio-jet South Lokichar area at the site until July this year,
fuel and bio-ethanol, the Italian firm said, in line when an early oil pilot production scheme was
with its “circular economy technologies.” ended.
The plan covers a study on converting the Eni added it had signed amendments to three
Mombasa refinery to this purpose. Doing so production-sharing contracts (PSCs) offshore
would give Kenya a leadership role in Africa’s Mombasa. The company has rights to six off-
decarbonisation drive, Eni said. shore blocks in Kenya in total. The Italian major
Faced with a collapse in fuel demand this year, struck a deal in July last year to transfer 13.75%
a number of refiners in Europe and the US have interests in blocks L-11A, L-11B and L-12 to
unveiled plans to convert their facilities to bio- Qatar Petroleum (QP), subject to approval by
fuels rather than shutting them down. But few the Kenyan authorities. ™

Week 01 07•January•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P19