Page 10 - AfrOil Week 15 2020

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Nigeria may launch new round of marginal field licensing soon
NIGERIA
NIGERIA’S government has reportedly approved plans to launch another licensing round for marginal fields.
Sources inside the country’s Ministry of Petroleum told Africa Oil & Gas Report last week that President Muhammadu Buhari had given Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, a green light for the next round of auctions. They indicated that Abuja was eager to move forward on this front and might open up the bidding process in about two weeks.
According to the sources, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) believes it is capa- ble of staging the licensing round quickly, using online resources. Since the country can use dig- ital platforms to open up a data room for poten- tial investors and complete other tasks, it could theoretically stage and complete the auctions in as little as six weeks.
The sources did not say which sites might be included in the bidding round. DPR’s portfolio of marginal fields now encompasses 56 onshore and shallow-water fields, including 11 fields previously awarded to Nigerian firms who have
since had their licences revoked.
Nigeria’s last bidding round for marginal
fields took place more than 10 years ago. The government has repeatedly postponed plans for another round of auctions.
As of press time, Nigerian authorities had not confirmed or commented on the report.
Officials in Abuja said several times last year that they hoped to carry out another licensing round for marginal fields some time in 2020, and Sylva made optimistic remarks to the same effect last month. But in late March, Sarki Auwalu, the director and CEO of DPR, was quoted by The Guardian as saying that he did not believe market conditions favoured such a step.
Specifically, he told the newspaper, Nigeria may have trouble attracting investors at a time when the coronavirus (COVID-19) is cutting deeply into world energy demand and prices for both crude oil and natural gas are low. “Is it wise for a country to bring up an auction for its resources at this time? Even if government want to go ahead with it, I will advise that this is not the right time,” he remarked. ™
ExxonMobil delays FID on Rovuma LNG
MOZAMBIQUE
SUPER-MAJOR ExxonMobil has announced that it is pushing back a final investment deci- sion (FID) on the proposed Rovuma LNG pro- ject in Mozambique, which had previously been expected this year. The move had been widely anticipated in the wake of the oil price collapse, which led the company to warn in March that it was reviewing its spending for this year and planning cutbacks.
On April 7, ExxonMobil announced a 30% cut to its capital expenditure budget for this year. While this cut will largely affect the US’ Permian Basin, the super-major mentioned in its statement that the FID on Rovuma would be delayed. “ExxonMobil continues to actively work with its partners and the government to optimise development plans by improving syn- ergies and exploring opportunities related to the current lower-cost environment,” the company stated.
The delay is the second one in recent months for Rovuma LNG. An FID had previously been anticipated in 2019, but was pushed back to
2020. However, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the pro- ject was awarded in October 2019, to JGC-led consortium that also consists of Fluor and TechnipFMC.
Rovuma LNG represents the largest ever pri-
vate investment in an African country. 
The Rovuma LNG plant will be onshore (Image: Galp)
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Week 15 15•April•2020