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Petronas may not participate in

South Sudan’s first bidding round

SOUTH SUDAN PETRONAS (Malaysia) has indicated that it that do not abide by the country’s environmental
may not submit any bids in South Sudan’s first laws and regulations, the agency said.
oil licensing round, which was launched last It also noted that ministry officials and local
month. labour unions had criticised Petronas for not
In a statement released earlier this week, upholding its obligations under the local con-
the state-run Malaysian company said it was tent policy introduced in 2018. The ministry
conducting a review of its assets in light of chal- claims that the Malaysian company does not
lenging conditions on world energy markets. make enough effort to work with local service
“Petronas is undertaking a strategic review of providers, while union representatives say it
its assets to ensure that its portfolio remains pays its own expatriate workers far more than
resilient and commercially viable,” it reported. local workers, it reported.
“Therefore, Petronas may not be participating in Petronas is the leader of Sudd Petroleum
the South Sudan’s first licensing round this year.” Operating Co. (SPOC), the consortium set up
It was not immediately clear why the com- to develop Block 5A in South Sudan. It is also a
pany, which is active in many countries around stakeholder in an adjacent block known as 5B.
the world, was concerned about South Sudan
specifically. The landlocked East African state Potential sale of South African assets
launched its first oil licensing auction on June In related news, the Malaysian major is also
23, offering five blocks – A2, A5, B1, B4 and D2. reportedly considering the potential sale of its
Reuters pointed out in an article dated July majority stake in South African fuel retailer
6 that the company was in a vulnerable finan- Engen, according to a recent report by Bloomb-
cial position. It explained that Petronas had erg, which cited unnamed sources.
seen revenues decline as a result of the corona- The newswire’s sources said Petronas was
virus (COVID-19) pandemic last year and was mulling the sale of its 74% stake in Engen, or
still concerned that demand is not recovering even an initial public offering (IPO), and had
quickly enough to sustain recent improvements been in early talks with potential buyers.
in profit levels. The retailer, which decided to convert its
However, Agence Ecofin pointed out that 120,000 barrel per day refinery in Durban into
relations between the Malaysian company and a storage facility, owns 1,280 fuel stations across
South Sudan’s government have grown tense seven African countries. The refinery, South
in recent years. Officials in Juba have been Africa’s second-largest, suffered fire damage in
expressing displeasure with Petronas’ poor December 2020 that prompted authorities to
environmental record, and the Ministry of Oil close the facility in order to investigate the inci-
has threatened to revoke the licences of investors dent. ™

PERFORMANCE
Libya’s NOC earns $1.39bn in revenues

from hydrocarbon production in May

LIBYA LIBYA’S state-owned National Oil Corp. (NOC) The vast majority of the revenues earned by
announced that it had generated $1.39n in reve- NOC in May, or $1.32bn, which represented
nues from the production of hydrocarbons and 94% of the total, came from crude oil sales. Rev-
petroleum products in May. enues from sales of gas and condensates came in
In a statement posted on its website, the state- at a distant second, amounting to only $53mn
run company said that revenues had risen on in May.
expanding output and demand as well as higher NOC also sold $14mn worth of petroleum
prices. products during the same month.

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