Page 17 - AfrOil Week 04 2023

AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

business new africa bna/IntelliNews

Decklar and Millenium have now increased pro- Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui. Addressing a as of September 2022.
duction from the Oza oilfield to a total rate of parliamentary session on Monday, January 23, bna/IntelliNews, 25 January 2023
approximately 1,300 barrels per day (bpd) of oil she explained that the government is currently
following the restart of production at approxi- paying up to MAD90 ($8.7) per bottle of cooking
mately 900 bpd of oil from the Oza-1 well and gas to keep the price at MAD40 ($3.9). POLICY
new production at approximately 400 bpd of oil Subsidies for wheat exceeded MAD10bn
following minor repairs to the Oza-4 well. ($968mn) during the same year, while subsidies Portuguese search offices
Trucking of oil has continued from the Oza for sugar rose to MAD5bn ($483.9mn), the min-
Field to the Edo Refinery and Petrochemicals ister explained. of advisors to Isabel dos
Co. Ltd (ERPC) in Edo State, Nigeria. The surging state subsidies for basic com-
Decklar and Millenium have issued another modities continued, depleting foreign exchange Santos as part of Angola
invoice for delivery of 5,000 barrels of crude oil reserves as global inflation pushed up food and
to ERPC under the recently signed 30,000 bar- energy prices. As agricultural yield dropped corruption probe
rels crude sale agreement., and initial payment because of severe drought, Morocco saw a grow-
for previous deliveries totaling 10,000 barrels has ing dependency on grain imports. The country Authorities in Portugal have searched the offices
now been received. also imports 90% of its energy requirements. of key advisors to Isabel dos Santos – the daugh-
Restart of Production from the Oza-4 Well: Morocco’s economy grew by 7.9% in 2021. ter of Angola’s former president and long Africa’s
Decklar and Millenium have recommenced pro- In 2022, the country’s central bank raised inter- richest woman, alleged to have caused her oil-
duction from the Oza oilfield at a total produc- est rates twice to contain surging inflation – the rich country to lose more than $1bn through
tion rate of approximately 1,300 bpd of oil. The first time in over 14 years they had imposed two various illegal schemes.
Oza-1 well is currently producing approximately increases in a single year. The country’s agricul- Police last week raided the Lisbon offices
900 bpd of oil of 22 API crude oil on a 20/64-inch tural production fell by almost 14% in 2022 from of Boston Consulting Group and Pricewater-
choke with wellhead pressure of 400 psi and 2.5% a year earlier, a drop largely driven by severe houseCoopers (PwC), both global consultancies
BS&W. Following successful minor repairs, the drought, the worst in three decades, which has advising dos Santos, according to media reports.
Oza-4 well has been opened and restarted with led to smaller cereal crops this season, as well They also searched the headquarters of Eurobic,
current production averaging approximately as a lower-than-expected output of fruits and a bank she once partly owned.
400 bpd of oil on a 24/64-inch choke at wellhead vegetables. The searches came in response to a request
pressure of 1,300 psi with 0.01% BS&W. Morocco’s openness to international markets from the government of Angola, which is seek-
Trucking of Crude Oil to Edo Refinery: meant that it suffered particularly badly from the ing records related to the loss of public funds
Trucking of oil from the Oza Field is ongoing global slowdown resulting from financial tight- from the state-owned oil company, Sonan-
to the ERPC facility in Edo State, Nigeria. Ten ening, the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine gol, for which dos Santos previously served as
trucks are currently in operation and are capable war, and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 chairperson.
of delivering approximately 2,500 barrels every pandemic. Dos Santos, a telecommunications and
four days. Additional trucks are expected to be Morocco’s trade deficit soared to 56% at the banking magnate, has been under intensify-
contracted over the next few weeks to increase end of October 2022. ing criminal and civil investigations since early
delivery capacity. bna/IntelliNews, 24 January 2023 2020, when the International Consortium of
Receipt of Funds for First Oil Sale: Deck- Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and 36 media
lar and Millenium have received payment on Ghana Revenue Authority partners published the so-called Luanda Leaks
the first invoice for delivered crude under the investigation.
10,000 barrels sale agreement with ERPC. The collects less than half “The cross-border investigation revealed how
Company has now issued an invoice for deliv- dos Santos, then recognised as Africa’s wealth-
ery of the first 5,000 barrels as part of the 30,000 of arrears owed by 17 oil iest woman, leveraged family ties, shell com-
barrel sale agreement with ERPC with payment panies and insider deals to build an empire of
expected in approximately three weeks. With marketing companies businesses, transactions and luxury properties
continued production and delivery of crude oil in Europe, Africa and North America,” the ICIJ
it is expected that regular billing and receipts of Ghana has retrieved some GHS30mn out of writes.
sales proceeds will occur. GHS69mn owed it by 17 oil marketing compa-
San Leon Energy, 20 January 2023 nies (OMCs), the head of the tax authority told a
select committee of Parliament.
According to Ghana Revenue Authority
PERFORMANCE (GRA) commissioner-general Ammisshaddai
Owus-Amoah, the OMCs had failed to pay
Morocco pays $2.1bn for rescheduled debts going back to 2019.
While eight have now paid in full, the GRA
cooking gas subsidies in has instituted criminal prosecution against the
remaining defaulting OMCs, while others are
2022 to stabilise prices under investigation.
The development comes as Ghana scrambles
The Moroccan government paid MAD22bn to boost domestic revenue as it looks to finalise
($2.1bn) for cooking gas subsidies in 2022 a $3bn loan from the International Monetary
in order to stop prices from escalating fur- Fund (IMF) amidst tightened access to external
ther, according to Finance and Economy capital markets and a debt load of about $48.9bn

Week 04 26•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P17