Page 11 - DMEA Week 18 2021
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DMEA FINANCE & INVESTMENT DMEA
Libya’s government allocates
funds for oil sector restoration
AFRICA LIBYA’S National Unity Government allocated majeure status on the Hariga oil export termi-
LYD1bn ($233mn) to enable the National Oil nal with a 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) export
Corporation (NOC), the national oil champion, capacity, paving the way for operating companies
and its subsidiaries to pay for arrears owed to located in the extreme east of the country to start
contractors in an effort to restore unproductive production and exports with the aim of expedit-
oilfields and associated transport and export ing eventual payments of dues to contractors.
infrastructure back to operational status. Lastly, NOC was asked to select a specialised
The government is keen to return produc- global oil services company to audit the status of
tion and exports facilities on stream nation- all oil facilities, including surface facilities, wells
wide to replenish the treasury, with priority and reservoirs, to preserve national assets.
given to making payments to domestic Libyan Libya’s provisional National Unity Govern-
companies. ment was formed on 10 March, 2021 to unify the
NOC was instructed to tabulate accumulated rival Government of National Accord (GNA)
obligations of all oil companies to service pro- based in Tripoli and the second Al-Thani cabinet
viders, especially of Arabian Gulf Oil Co., Sirte based in Tobruk.
and Ras Lanuf Companies, in preparation for It has a mandate until December 24, when
making a payments schedule within two months. presidential and legislative elections are expected
NOC took the first step of lifting force to be held.
REFINING
Iraq’s Karbala refinery to
begin operations next year
MIDDLE EAST IRAQI Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said this the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A year
week that a refinery under construction in Kar- earlier, he was quoted as saying that the facility
bala, south of Baghdad, is expected to come on was 78% complete.
stream in September 2022. Plans to develop a greenfield refinery at
He was quoted by state-run Iraqi News Karbala have been on the drawing board since
Agency as saying that once in operation, the 2007, when Baghdad launched a downstream
facility would allow Iraq to reduce its refined development programme comprising four new
product imports by around 90%. plants across the country. Three of these were to
The Ministry of Oil (MoO) said that Abdul have capacities of 140,000-150,000 bpd, with a
Jabbar had “instructed the refinery’s manage- 300,000 bpd facility planned at Nasiriyah as well.
ment to expedite the completion of the technical Of these, only Karbala has reached the con-
measures required to supply the province’s elec- struction phase following the MoO’s reversion to
tric power system with a generative capacity of an engineering, procurement and construction
200 MW this summer”. (EPC) contract and its award to a South Korean
INA reported that the refinery will comprise consortium led by Hyundai Engineering & Con-
35 operational and service units, including four struction in early 2014. Work began in February
gasoline production units, a thermal cracking that year.
unit, a poly-naphtha unit to produce octane 95
and 90 fuels, as well as 44 storage tanks.
It is expected to produce LPG, gasoline, gas
oil, fuel oil, jet fuel and asphalt to meet interna-
tional standards.
Last year, Deputy Oil Minister Hamid al-Zo-
bai said that full commissioning of the 140,000
barrel per day (bpd) unit was expected in the
first quarter of 2022 and the delay is believed to
be largely the result of logistics issues relating to
Week 18 06•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11
