Page 6 - AfrOil Week 09 2020

AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil
Eni finishes gas pipeline in Algeria’s Berkine Basin
ALGERIA
ITALY’S Eni has wrapped up construction work on a pipeline that will facilitate the export of nat- ural gas and associated gas from hydrocarbon fields in the Berkine Basin in south-eastern Algeria.
Eni said in a statement earlier this week that it had finished a 185-km pipeline that connects the Bir Rebaa Nord (BRN) field to the Menzel Ledjmet Est (MLE) field. The 16-inch (406-mm) pipe is capable of handling 7mn cubic metres per day of gas, it reported.
It also noted that it had worked with affili- ates of Sonatrach, Algeria’s national oil company (NOC), to ensure that the link was built quickly. “This is an example of a ‘fast-track’ project, which saw a shared commitment by Eni and Sonatrach, based on a common strategy of an accelerated time to market and on the availabil- ity and ability of the contracting companies of theSonatrachgrouptocarryouttheworks,”the statement explained.
The Italian company intends to use the new pipeline for associated gas from BRN and Bir Rebaa South-West (BRSW), both of which lie within Block 403. It began extracting gas from the BRN and BRSW oilfields in May of last year, and intends to move forward with development in 2020.
Eni will also use the link to carry natural gas from MLE and other fields within North Berkine. It has been working at the North
Berkine gas fields since February 2019, when it signed a farm-in agreement for the Ourhoud II and Zemlet el Arbi sites.
The North Berkine fields will eventually yield 6.5 mcm per day of gas, as well as 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of natural gas liquids (NGLs). This will be enough, in combination with production from the BRN and BRSW oilfields, to push out- put up to 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) by 2020, Eni said.
The Italian company is one of the biggest investors in Algeria’s oil and gas sector. It has been active in the North African country since 1981, and its equity production there amounts to 90,000 boepd. ™
Banks seek advisory role for Egyptian refining IPO
Liberia will begin accepting bids for nine offshore blocks in April (Image: TGS)
INVESTMENT
NIGERIA
JPMORGAN Chase & Co., Citigroup and Gold- man Sachs are among the banks vying for a con- tract to advise Egypt’s Arab Refining on its initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported on February 26.
Also competing are EFG Hermes Holding, HSBC Holdings and Renaissance Capital, a source told the news agency. Arab Refining will select as many as three banks as consultants in the second quarter of 2020. They will advise on details such as how much of a stake Arab Refin- ing will offer up to investors.
As of press time, none of the banks men- tioned in the report had commented.
The IPO at Arab Refining, a subsidiary of Qalaa Holdings SAE, is one in a series of offer- ings that will take place in Egypt this year. They will provide the country’s ailing stock exchange with a jolt of liquidity.
Cairo unveiled a programme three years ago
to sell stakes in major state-owned enterprises,
as part of broader efforts to strengthen its econ-
omy. But plans stalled and there have been no
new listings in two years. 
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 09 04•March•2020