Page 9 - AfrOil Week 16 2020

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil
 Timelines will have to be revised in light of the investment climate and Uganda’s own financial constraints, he was quoted as saying by the Daily Monitor.
“I think we are likely to see slower activity in the sector than previously envisaged,” he com- mented. “So where we were talking about oil coming out around 2023-24, [this might] might be pushed to 2025 or beyond, given that Uganda needs heavy borrowing to support the sector.”
Mugume’s statements drew criticism from Robert Kasande, the permanent secretary of the East African state’s Energy Ministry. Speaking during the same webinar, Kasande argued that Uganda deserved to be viewed as an attractive prospect – especially by Tullow Oil (UK/Ire- land) and other companies that are waiting to make final investment decisions (FIDs).
“It is better to make investment decisions of low oil price because then the contracts that are sub-contracted by international oil companies [IOCs] come in cheaper,” he asserted. “Much of the oil industry uses a lot of steel in the pipe- lines, so when the oil price is low or there is some kind of recession, prices [for] steel come down, making it a good time to make an investment decision.”
He also insisted that Uganda’s oil industry would suffer more if Tullow and other investors failed to move forward. “What is impacting us more is not COVID-19, nor the oil price, but
POLICY
Pandemic puts Nigerian oil
and gas workers in the spotlight
Chevron falls under suspicion of concealing infections among staff, while ExxonMobil employees fall afoul of state government’s lockdown regime
for us to conclude what we have been discuss- ingandweareworkingtowardsconcluding,”he said. ™
Uganda’s oilfields are near Lake Albert (Image: Heritage Oil & Gas)
NIGERIA
THE spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led many national and local governments to impose restrictions on public activity, even on the movements of some work- ers involved in crucial industries.
These constraints have drawn protests from a number of companies involved in the oil and gas sector. In various countries, some upstream, midstream and downstream operators have tried to make the case that they cannot play their part in ensuring the flow of energy sup- plies unless their employees are free to cross international and internal boundary lines.
Three Nigerian gas companies – NLNG, Nigerian Gas Co. (NGC) and Oilserv – and Total E&P, a subsidiary of France’s Total, made this point last month. They joined forces with a
local beverage maker, International Breweries, to send a special request to Nyesom Wike, the governor of Rivers State. In a letter, they asked the governor for waivers from the lockdown imposed on the state on March 25.
As AfrOil has reported previously, Wike refused this request. Nevertheless, Nigeria is still confronting questions about oil and gas workers’ freedom of movement in the time of coronavirus.
Chevron in quarantine
Earlier this month, for example, reports emerged that Chevron Nigeria Ltd (CNL), a subsidiary of the US giant Chevron, had forced a number of employees into quarantine at a hotel in Warri, Delta State.
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