Page 18 - AfrOil Week 45

AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

Heerema Marine Chamber, businesses, workers and foreign
investors, we still believe that these regulations
Contractiors announces need to be stricken down. Though extended, the
regulations as they stand, without amendments,
restructuring of JVs are the most dangerous and anti-African regu-
lations in the world and cannot be left hanging
in Angola on people’s heads without being corrected,” said
NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African
The ongoing poor market conditions and sus- Energy Chamber.
tained low oil price mean Heerema’s Angola One of the core principles of the Economic
Joint Ventures are no longer economically via- Community of Central African States (ECCAS)
ble. Having explored possibilities for the future is the promotion and strengthening of co-op-
within Angola, Heerema has concluded that the eration in order to achieve collective self-reli-
closure of Heerema Porto Amboim (HPA) and ance, raise the standard of living for its peoples,
Heerema Marine-Sociedade Angolana de Trans- increase economic stability and contribute to the
portes (HMT) is the appropriate option. progress and development of the sub-region and
The Heerema shares in HPA will be sold the African continent as a whole (Art 4 ECCAS
to our Joint Venture partner, while HMT will Treaty). These Regulations stifle the vision and
be liquidated as a result of this strategic deci- spirit in which the treaty was signed.
sion. The HPA yard and HMT office currently These regulations violate the very ethos of
employs around 40 people and following a wind potential offshore South Africa, this then is an government bodies, which is to serve the inter-
down of services over the next two months, the incredible time to be bringing a ready-to-inter- ests of its people and to ensure that any regula-
full closure is expected in December this year. pret dataset over the basin to the industry. The tions passed do not obstruct economic growth
The decision to cease operations in Angola Cretaceous source rocks of the Brulpadda-Lui- and self-reliance of the people in the CEMAC
is a difficult one and comes in response to long- perd trend extend along the margin on the north region.
term challenges and a limited outlook for work side of the Agulhas Transform, which provides The Chamber believes that we must con-
in the future. a depositional onlap for hybrid clastic systems tinue to fight for the ability of small businesses,
We deeply regret the job losses that will result being brought to the basin floor. everyday people, investors, especially oil and
from this decision and will support our people “Brulpadda and Luiperd are just beginning of gas companies to hire, invest, grow, succeed and
through the transition. the excitement on this trend and we can confi- create jobs in Africa as this is required for our
Heerema Marine Contractors will continue dently expect a lot more to come in this nascent post-COVID-19 recovery.
to operate from their branch in Angola, provid- super-basin.” Certain provisions in the BEAC Forex Reg-
ing heavy lift installation services for the offshore The expanding South Africa 2D and 3D ulations appear to be anti-fair trade and against
energy markets. seismic database will be available on Searcher’s the objective of the AfCFTA, an agreement
Heerema has advised all relevant authori- on-demand web platform, sAIsmic, for easy which has been ratified by all CEMAC member
ties and all long-term clients of its decision and access to explorers. states. One of the key objectives of the Agree-
appreciates their efforts of support. Searcher Seismic, November 04 2020 ment is to “create a single market for goods,
Heerema Marine Contractors, November 06 2020 services, facilitated by movement of persons in
order to deepen the economic integration of the
Searcher announces 2D FINANCE African continent,” it states.
Therefore, these regulations are counter-
and 3D seismic project As African Energy productive as they have diminished the attrac-
tiveness of the CEMAC for foreign direct
offshore South Africa Chamber prepares for investments and cross border trade.
“It is because of this that the Chamber asserts
Searcher, a leading service provider of global litigation, BEAC postpones that it will continue with its intention to litigate
multi-client geoscience products for exploration against regulations that put extremely deterrent
and production companies, has announced a new forex regulation barriers for entry of investors in Gabon, Came-
new multi-client 2D and 3D seismic rectification roon, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
project Offshore South Africa, in collaboration The African Energy Chamber, which represents the Central African Republic and Chad. The
with the Petroleum Agency of South Africa. nearly every segment of the energy sector, is regulation in itself is in clear contradiction with
The South Africa seismic data covers the Out- pleased to announce the extension on the imple- the spirit of the AfCTA. It is illegal. It should be
eniqua Basin and its sub-Basins; the Bredasdorp, mentation of the BEAC Forex Regulation from repealed and replaced with a more pro-growth
Infanta, Pletmos, Gamtoos, Algoa and Southern January 1, 2021, to December 1, 2021. The is and pro-jobs regulation which the chamber is
Outeniqua Basins. Searcher has applied its pro- based on the decision made by Abbas Mahamat willing to provide to BEAC,” Ayuk concluded.
prietary post-stack reprocessing method to rec- Tolli, Governor of BEAC, no. 119/GR/2020 to The Chamber believes that this regulation
tify navigation, metadata, amplitude, phase and delay the implementation, signed on November will contribute to the growing challenge of
time creating a contiguous database that can be 5, 2020 energy poverty, corruption and the increas-
easily loaded into any interpretation software. The energy industry and everyday people do ing role of bureaucrats in business affairs. The
Neil Hodgson, Searcher’s VP GeoScience, believe this is a step in the right direction; how- question is simple: Why add more burdens and
said: “With the success of the Luiperd-1 well ever, it is simply not enough. barriers?
proving the spectacular commercial resource “While we thank BEAC for listening to the African Energy Chamber, November 10 2020

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 11•November•2020