Page 12 - AfrOil Week 15 2020

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil
 “The donated fuel will be used to support trans- port efforts in the fight against COVID-19,” he said.
Dhanah, who also chairs Tanzania’s national committee on the coronavirus, declared that his company was pleased to assist the government on this front. “COVID-19 is [a] global pandemic that cannot be left to the government alone to fight,” he said at the ceremony. “Responsible corporate citizens and well-meaning individuals need to support all initiatives and efforts of the government, as we are all in this together.”
Majaliwa responded by thanking Dhanah, saying he hoped private companies would fol- low PUMA Energy Tanzania’s example. The government will welcome this type of support, he said.
The PUMA chief went on to say that his
company was taking steps to protect its employ- ees and customers during the public health emergency. All of PUMA’s filling stations have made soap and water available to the public for hand-washing, and the company provides masks and gloves to its operators, he said.
Meanwhile, he stated, all of the firm’s offices have adequate supplies of hand sanitiser. Addi- tionally, he said, PUMA’s offices and staff can- teens have introduced seating arrangements that keep staff members at least 2 metres away from each other.
PUMA is one of Tanzania’s leading retail sellers of refined fuels. Equity in the firm is split 50:50 between the government and Puma Investments, itself owned by Angola’s national oil company (NOC) Sonangol and the Singa- pore-based commodity trader Trafigura.™
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Grand Tortue/Ahmeyim launch delayed
MAURITANIA/SENEGAL
BP is reportedly set to delay work at Grand Tor- tue/Ahmeyim, an offshore block that straddles the maritime border between Senegal and Mau- ritania, by about a year.
The UK-based super-major and its partners – Kosmos Energy (US), Société des Pétroles du Sénégal (Petrosen), and Société Mauritani- enne des Hydrocarbures (SMHPM) – have said that they hope to develop the block within the framework of a wider effort to establish an off- shore LNG complex. They intend to use natural gas from the site as feedstock for a floating LNG (FLNG) facility capable of turning out 2.5mn tonnes per year (tpy) of fuel in its first phase. Output could rise later to 10mn tpy.
BP has already signed a 20-year charter for the FLNG vessel with Golar LNG and is due to take delivery of the facility in 2022. Last week, though, the multi-national made a declaration of force majeure, saying it could not begin work on time because of the coronavirus (COVID- 19) pandemic. A spokesman for the company was quoted by Reuters as saying that this deci- sion had been “a direct result of the ongoing business impacts due to COVID-19.”
Golar said in a statement that BP was antici- pating a delay of 12 months and saw no options for reducing this timespan. It also noted that the parties were now holding talks in a bid to deter- mine how long the Grand Tortue/Ahmeyim project would be postponed and the extent to which the pandemic had contributed to the change in schedule. “Golar has asked BP to clarify how a force majeure event discovered as recently as the end of March 2020 could imme- diately impact the schedule by an estimated one year,” it said.
It added: “[In] anticipation of a potential delay, the company has commenced discussions
with its main building contractor, Keppel Ship- yard Ltd, to re-schedule activities in order to reduce and re-profile its capital spending com- mitments for 2020 and 2021.”
Kosmos echoed BP’s position, saying that the public health measures introduced to contain the spread of the pandemic had forced a review of the work schedule. “With border closures, travel bans, social distancing restrictions and office closures arising from the coronavirus, the project’s activities across global locations have been impacted,” it explained. “These ongoing restrictions have had an impact on time-critical workstreams, including the construction of the breakwater during the 2020 weather window. As a result, the Phase 1 project timeline is expected to be delayed by approximately 12 months, with first gas now expected in the first half of 2023.”
BP and its partners made a final investment decision (FID) on the Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim project in December 2018. The block is believed to hold about 425bn cubic metres of gas.
The offshore block holds about 425 bcm of gas (Image: Kosmos Energy)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 15 15•April•2020