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infrastructure. The review led the government to to 706,000 bpd, which was down from the 745,000
issue a new decree to supplement the existing legis- bpd recorded in the same period of 2019.
lation in advance of the construction and comple- The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has hit
tion of new LNG plants and associated production, oil and gas contractors hard, as global quarantine
transportation and processing infrastructure. measures have depressed energy demand. SKK
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Department of Petroleum Migas said in October it was working with several
Resources (DPR) confirmed last week that it had contractors with licences due to expire in 2022 to
not yet wrapped up the marginal fields licensing help them meet their work commitments despite Global
round. Paul Osu, the head of DPR’s public affairs the health crisis. SKK Migas’ acting head of com-
department, informed the local press that the munications, Susana Kurniasih, said exploration demand for
process of bidding for the 57 sites involved in the and enhance oil recovery (EOR) work had been petrochemicals is
heavily subscribed auctions was ongoing. He was delayed across 13 blocks.
responding to reports that DPR had already fin- beginning to pick
ished reviewing the bids received by September 15 If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
and would reveal the results of the contest soon. the Asian oil and gas sector then please click here for up again from
NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor .
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping lows experienced
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for DMEA: OMV closes petchem deal earlier this year.
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor . Austrian oil giant OMV has closed a $4.7bn deal
to buy an extra 39% stake in petrochemicals
AsianOil: Indonesia’s production ambitions group Borealis from Abu Dhabi state investor
Indonesia is holding fast to its target of produc- Mubadala.
ing 1mn barrels per day (bpd) of crude and con- OMV already has a 36% interest in Borea-
densate by 2030, despite the fact that production lis, but a controlling share will provide it with
and upstream investment continue to falter. greater say over the Ruwais complex in the UAE,
The head of upstream regulator SKK Migas, poised to become the world’s largest integrated
Dwi Soetjipto, called on the country’s oil and gas refining and petrochemicals hub. The move also
contractors this week to help the government reach fits with OMV’s strategy of growing its gas and
its production target. It adds to a succession of calls petrochemicals business while moving away
in recent months on developers to continue devel- from crude oil sales.
oping fields despite the financial pressures they Borealis is partnered at Ruwais with the
might be under. UAE’s state-owned ADNOC. The pair want to
“The step towards 1mn barrels requires a work double the project’s production capacity to over
leap, so there will be risks and obstacles, because 9mn tonnes per year (tpy) by 2030.
what is being done is not business as usual,” Indo- Global demand for petrochemicals is begin-
nesian language media outlet Kompas quoted him ning to pick up again from lows experienced
as saying during a November 2 webinar. earlier this year. Saudi Arabian producer SABIC
Soetjipto said the regulator would work with managed to return to profit in the third quarter,
contractors to help improve their risk management following three quarterly losses in a row.
and compliance and said SKK Migas would serve SABIC, which was recently bought by Saudi
as “a bridge” to help developers meet their organi- Aramco, attributed the latest results to the rever-
sational goals. sal of impairments, higher prices and increased
SKK Migas internal supervisor Taslim Yunus production. While conditions have improved,
said: “Developing the upstream oil and gas industry the market is still oversupplied, though, and
with good governance and international standards this has prompted some operators to scale
is one of the keys to attracting investors to a sector back investment plans. Aramco and SABIC
that has high business risk.” announced earlier this month they were consid-
The officials’ comments come, however, as ering downsizing a $20bn oil-to-chemicals plant
Indonesian oil and gas production continued to in Yanbu.
slide in the third quarter on the back of depressed In other news, Iran has been plagued by a
energy prices, demand and investor interest. number of fires and explosions in recent months
Oil and gas lifting edged down 0.4% year on year at mostly energy and military facilities. The latest
to 1.69mn barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) blast occurred at a petrochemicals plant in the
in the three months to September 30, SKK Migas country’s south-west, owned by Bandar Imam
data showed last week. Oil production amounted Petrochemical. These incidents are understood

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