Page 13 - DMEA Week 13 2020

DMEA
NEWS IN BRIEF
DMEA
Egypt’s MIDOR generates $2.4bn revenue
Middle East Oil Refinery (MIDOR) has recorded $2.4bn worth of revenues in 2019, Chairman and CEO Gamal ElKareish has said.
The generated income is the highest in five years, ElKareish elaborated, according to the Cabinet’s statement.
MIDOR has produced approximately 5.1mn tonnes of high quality petroleum products last year. This output resulted from refining 38.7mn barrels of crude oil.
In addition, the company recorded the highest diesel production level of 2.5 mn tonnes, representing 50% of total petroleum output.
About 61% of MIDOR’s production supplied the local market in Egypt with up to $1.3bn in value.
MIDOR has exported $1.1bn worth of high quality petroleum products in 2019, ElKareish remarked.
As for the expansion plans, MIDOR plans to increase production capacity by 60%. The refinery has total investments of $2.3bn.
Furthermore, the company has assigned to Petrojet, the executive arm of the petroleum sector, projects worth $8.2mn
ElKareish noted that the company has paid about $2bn of taxes and fees to the state treasury.
MIDOR’s shareholders have injected $440mn for expansion purposes.
Engen refinery temporarily shut amid low demand
The Durban-based petroleum refinery of fuels, lubricants and oil-based products distributor and marketer Engen has undergone a temporary controlled shutdown, effective March 27, as a result of forecasted lower demand for petroleum products during the national lockdown which came into effect from the same day.
The Engen refinery produces about 17% of South Africa’s fuel.
South Africa is currently under lockdown to help slow the spread of Covid-19, with the vast majority of its citizens confined to their homes until April 16. Consequently, demand for fuel will be drastically lower during the lockdown period.
Engen assures that the refinery shutdown, however, will not affect its ability to service the core petroleum needs of motorists and commercial customers during the lockdown.
Motorists and business customers are assured that all necessary measures have been instituted across the Engen supply chain to ensure sustained delivery of core petroleum products over the coming weeks to its more than 1 000 service stations and business customers.
Engen MD and CEO Yusa’ Hassan says the company is already experiencing lower demand and is forecasting an even lower demand offtake, which will force the refinery to scale back beyond its safe operating envelope, which will increase environmental emissions risk.
Engen’s product inventory is currently high and building up fast, the company reports.
“This considered decision will enable us to support and maximise our offtake from the inland refineries to ensure they can continue operations and meet the inland demand,” he adds.
Hassan notes that, as a consequence of the temporary shutdown, as many as 600 additional employees will observe the stay- at-home restrictions during the national lockdown..
Completion date of OB3 gas
pipeline project in Nigeria
pushed to 2021
Completion works of Obiafu-Obrikom to Oben (OB3) gas pipeline project in Nigeria has been pushed further again to 2021. This is because a crucial part of the construction that has been taken from one of the key contractors and handed over to others, who now have a global pandemic to deal with.
Nestoil’s inability to run a 48 inch pipeline in a 60 inch hole under a riverbed spanning 2.8 km, compelled the Nigerian Gas Transmission Company NGTC, the state firm sponsoring the project to hand over that aspect of the operations to China Petroleum Pipeline Construction Company (CPPCC) and Brentex Petroleum Services, which is primarily a manufacturer of pipes.
The CPP has since imported equipment for the job, but the material had been held up in the Lagos Port for over three weeks, with Port officials unwilling to allow evacuation of the material, citing Coronavirus concerns.
The pipeline system is a critical component of the Nigeria Gas Master Plan meant to deliver gas from the rich reservoirs in the eastern Niger Delta to the established markets in the west of Nigeria.
It also aims to meet the Nigeria gas demand for power generation and industrial concerns (methanol, cement, manufacturing etc.) with emphasis on operational safety, efficiency and flexibility with a view to
providing industry standard, remote supervision and control.
The facility, under construction since 2013 starts from the Intermediate Pigging station at Umukwata (around KP 63.45) in Delta State and terminates at Oben Node in Edo State. The project involves construction of 48” x 127 km, Class 600 trunk gas supply pipeline from and Gas Processing and Pressure Reduction Facilities with capacity of 2bn cubic feet per day. On completion, it will enable the first major outline of a national gas grid.
Iran’s oil refinery produces
sanitising liquid to help
fight COVID-19
Tehran’s Oil Refinery have launched a production line of chemical sanitising liquid at a capacity of 4,000 litres per day, Managing Director of Tehran Oil Refinery Lotfollah Hangi said on Monday, IRNA reported.
Tehran Oil Refinery also produces disinfectants to help fight coronavirus, Hangi said.
“Tehran Oil Refinery is ready to supply the liquid bleach to other organisations and nearby companies,” he added..
Largest Turkish refiner
Tupras ‘has cut runs at
Izmir refinery by 50%
Largest Turkish refiner Tupras has reportedly cut runs at its Izmir refinery by 50% due to weak fuel demand brought about by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Four trading sources described the situation to Reuters on March 30.
Tupras has also reduced runs at its Izmit refinery by 20% and its Kirikkale refinery by 50%, they were also cited as saying.
Tupras started to cut refinery runs around the middle of March, two of the sources were further quoted as saying, but it was not clear when exactly the runs were reduced at each refinery.
Tupras is a big consumer of Mediterranean oil grades such as Russian Urals and Siberian Light as well as Kazakhstan’s CPC Blend, which it normally purchases via tenders.
“They’ve cut purchases a lot. There were no buy tenders for over a month now,” said one quoted trader in the Mediterranean oil market.
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