Page 16 - AfrOil Week 12 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Since then, Invictus has acquired the data Mobil bring Zimbabwe to regional standards,” he said.
gathered and used newer technologies to repro- Speaking at the same event, Energy and
cess it. Power Development Minister Zhemu Soda
Industry experts believe Zimbabwe has said if natural gas is found and developed, the
potential for natural gas development in the country stands to benefit through greater energy
north, where Invictus is working, along the supply.
Zambezi Valley along the border with Zambia “We are at the receiving end especially with
and Mozambique and in Chiredzi province, disruptions happening worldwide. Our fuel
near the border with South Africa. Substantial prices cannot be contained because of the dis-
amounts of coal-bed methane (CBM) have been ruption on the supply value chain,” Soda said.
found in Matabeleland West province to the “With this discovery we have the opportunity to
west, but these reserves are still undeveloped. start to have control of the prices of the petro-
MacMillan praised President Emmerson leum products. We are optimistic of this project
Mnangagwa’s government for supporting Invic- and we are confident that you are going to dis-
tus’ work. His company and the government are cover their resource. With gas, we can generate
negotiating a petroleum production agreement. electricity now that we are moving away from
“There will be an equitable share of resources the use of coal. With the commercial discover-
and there is no risk for the country. This is some- ies, the ministry can start working towards use
thing we have voluntarily put in place in order to of gas in generating electricity.” ™

Uganda’s energy minister hopes FID

on refinery will be made next year

UGANDA UGANDA’S Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa that includes TotalEnergies, CNOOC, Uganda
has said that the Albertine Graben Refinery National Oil Co. (UNOC) and Tanzania Petro-
Consortium (AGRC) is on track to make a final leum Development Corp. (TPDC). (Kingfisher
investment decision (FID) next year on the con- and Tilenga are due to start production in 2025,
struction of a plant that will process crude oil and EACOP is slated to come online in the same
from fields near Lake Albert. year.)
Speaking at an event marking the launch of While in Italy, Nankabirwa has been negoti-
the country’s National Oil Spill Contingency ating with members of AGRC, a private group
Plan at the weekend, she stated that discussions that will develop Uganda’s downstream capacity
among members of the consortium were mov- via the construction of a 60,000 barrels per day
ing forward. (bpd) refinery to process some of the crude oil
The pace of these talks has been affected extracted from the Lake Albert fields.
by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the AGRC’s members include Saipem (Italy),
group is working to accelerate the completion which will also serve as an engineering, procure-
of all outstanding tasks, she stated, according to ment and construction (EPC) contractor for the
a report from Monitor. refinery project; Nuovo Pignone Internationale,
ARGC’s goal is to reach the FID stage in 2023 an Italian-based subsidiary of the US-based oil-
and bring the refinery on stream four years later, field services provider (OSP) Baker Hughes;
she added. The consortium will also look for a Yaatra Africa, a US-based investor focused on
partner for the project, she noted. infrastructure in Africa; and LionWorks Group,
“We plan to announce the final investment a Mauritius-based investor focused on African
decision for the refinery probably next year. We infrastructure that has agreed to provide addi-
are looking for an anchor investor, and there- tional financing, expertise and funding. ™
fore, the oil will come before the refinery is com-
missioned ... in 2027,” she was quoted as saying
by Monitor.
Nankabirwa travelled to Italy last month, fol-
lowing the FID on the upstream and midstream
components of the Lake Albert Development
Project. This $10bn project will encompass
the development of the Kingfisher and Tilenga
oilfields by France’s TotalEnergies and China
National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and
the construction of the 1,443-km East Africa
Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) by a consortium Nankabirwa (L) met with AGRC reps last month (Photo: Twitter)

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 23•March•2022