Page 11 - AfrOil Week 28 2022

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

These assets are all located in the areas where oil June 10.
theft is most widespread, he explained. On June 30, however, it reported that it
Shell was due to receive final offers for its 30% had put the sale on hold pending the Nigerian
stake in SPDC from two Nigerian companies, Supreme Court’s resolution of a lawsuit related
ND Western Ltd and Heirs Oil and Gas Ltd, by to an oil spill in Bayelsa State in 2018. ™

POLICY
Mauritania’s oil minister notes European

opportunities for West African gas states

WEST AFRICA MAURITANIA’S Minister of Petroleum, Mines He noted that Mauritania and Senegal were
and Energy Abdesselam Ould Mohamed Saleh due to bring their first joint gas project – the
has said that his country and other rising nat- Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim (GTA) offshore
ural gas producers in West Africa are eager to block, which will eventually support the produc-
help Europe resolve its current concerns about tion of 5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG – on
energy supplies and prices. stream in 2023.
Speaking at the Africa Energy Forum in Additionally, he said, another smaller field is
Brussels on July 7, Saleh declared that the cur- slated to come online in 2025. (He did not name
rent situation in Europe represented an oppor- this field, but he may have been referring to the
tunity for West African gas producers. He said BirAllah project, which is within the Maurita-
Mauritania intended to take advantage of this nian offshore zone.)
opportunity and was keen to work with neigh- Saleh also stressed that West African gas pro-
bouring Senegal to develop offshore gas fields ducers would have to move quickly to make the
that straddle the maritime border between the most of this opportunity to serve the European
two countries. market. If Mauritania and other states do not
“Recent [price increases] have opened the take action, they may miss the chance to enter
opportunity for Mauritania, Senegal as well as this market before the long-term transition to
other African countries to export more gas to renewable energy gains more momentum, he
Europe,” the minister said, according to a Reu- explained.
ters report. “Europe needs to diversify its supply Therefore, he stated, “[in] this 10-year period
resources, so that fantastic opportunity – we from now till 2030, priority is given to exploiting
need not miss it.” all the potential of the country in terms of gas. ™

ACEP urges Ghana to invest

in associated gas utilisation

GHANA THE African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), rising during that interval and stated that flar-
a Ghanaian think-tank, said on July 12 that ing had prevented the country from realising the
Accra should consider investing in associated value of the gas and from putting it to good use.
gas utilisation as well as LNG imports, as the The CSO Budget Forum is a gathering of civil
country would benefit from making full use of society organisations (CSOs) that seek to influ-
its hydrocarbon resources. ence the government’s budget discussions.
Charles Ofori, policy lead at ACEP, pointed Ofori acknowledged that significant invest-
out during the CSO Budget Forum that crude ments would be required to facilitate associated
oil producers working in Ghana had burned off gas utilisation. But he also argued that the gov-
47bn cubic feet (1.331bn cubic metres) of associ- ernment’s decision to prioritise the importation
ated gas worth $300mn between 2019 and 2021. of LNG via an offshore terminal near Tema was
He reported that domestic demand for LPG, affecting the country’s ability to attract funding
which is made from processed gas, had been for associated gas utilisation projects.

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