Page 6 - FSUOGM Week 35 2020

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Nigeria LNG (NLNG)
facilities on Bonny
Island.

different course, however. Equinor (Norway) are estimated to be worth AUD1bn ($739.9bn),
revealed last week that it had decided to exit The Australian reported that Medco is “circling”
South Africa’s offshore zone, where it has stakes ExxonMobil’s $2.5bn sale of its Gippsland Basin
in four licence areas. The US giant ExxonMobil, assets in the Bass Strait.
which is a shareholder in three of these blocks, is Reports of Medco’s interest in upstream assets
also said to be looking to quit. in Australia come after the group announced a
In other news, Nigerian lawmakers have net loss in the first quarter of this year.
ordered an investigation into allegations of Medco said on August 26 that it had recorded
financial wrongdoing by Nigeria LNG (NLNG), a $20mn net loss, as deficits from copper and
a consortium that includes three international gold mining subsidiary Amman Mineral Nusa
majors as well as Nigerian National Petroleum Tenggara (AMNT) offset profits from its oil, gas
Corp. (NNPC). NLNG has been accused of and power divisions.
making $18bn in unauthorised withdrawals Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation
from an account used to cover dividend pay- and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 13% year
ments to NNPC, its largest shareholder. on year in the quarter to $181mn, on the back
of Medco’s acquisition of Ophir Energy in June
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping 2019. The Indonesian developer said Ophir’s
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for acquisition “more than offset the 15% drop in
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. realised oil prices”, which fell from $60.7 per bar-
rel in the first quarter of 2019 to $51.3 per barrel
MedcoEnergi eyes Australian assets in the same period of this year.
MedcoEnergi is reportedly pursuing a clutch of Medco produced 101,000 barrels of oil equiv-
upstream assets in Australia, despite the Indo- alent per day (boepd) in the quarter, up 10% y/y.
nesian group having swung into the red in the The company said it had brought its Meliwis gas
first quarter. development project in the Madura Offshore
Medco is understood to have progressed production-sharing contract (PSC) on stream
to the second round of bids for Italian major in July using an unmanned wellhead platform.
Eni’s energy projects, local daily The Australian Medco added that it had secured approvals
reported on August 30. The Indonesian devel- from both project partners and upstream reg-
oper is facing off against partners Macquarie and ulator SKK Migas to use a similar approach in
Neptune Energy, though other contenders may the development of the Paus Biru gas field in the
still reach the second round, which is being run Sampang PSC.
by Citi.
Eni’s assets include a 10.99% stake in Darwin If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
LNG and the plant’s feedstock field Bayu-Undan, Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
as well as 100% of the producing Blacktip natural NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.
gas field and attached Yelcherr processing plant.
The Italian major also owns stakes in four Mozambican security concerns
exploration licences, including the Joint Petro- France’s Total has formed a security pact with
leum Development Area in the Timor Sea and Mozambique’s government to help protect its
the undeveloped Evans Shoal gas field, which $20bn Mozambique LNG venture, weeks after a
could be a potential backfill for Darwin LNG. key port near the project was captured by Islamic
In addition to its bid for Eni’s assets, which militants.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 02•September•2020