Page 10 - Downstream Monitor - MEA Week 32

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NNPC talks up security links
AfRICA
NIGERIAN National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) has talked up security plans, both in the north – where it is working on exploration around the Chad Basin – and in the Niger delta, in an e ort to secure existing operations. NNPC’s new boss, Mele Kyari, visited the chief of defence, General Gabriel Olonisakin, last week to talk about work in the north.
While the NNPC has expressed an interest in exploration in the north, insecurity has made such work impossible.
This was demonstrated by a Boko Haram attack on an NNPC group in July 2017, which led to a number of exploration workers being killed.
Kyari said he had visited the general in order to secure “the support of the Armed Forces to help the NNPC in re-entering the Chad Basin, Gongola and Benue Trough to enable us carry out our mandate for national development. Your support in terms of providing full security for sta and equipment is critical to us.”
discussion of NNPC returning to the north was mentioned in June, under Kyari’s predecessor.
While Nigeria’s armed forces have made progress in their e orts against Boko Haram, the insurgent group has managed to maintain a
degree of operational e ectiveness. One of the problems facing the Nigerian Army has been corruption.
The country’s national security advisor, Sambo dasuki, was arrested in 2015, over an alleged loss of $2bn linked to arms procurement.
Kyari also talked to Olanisakin about secur- ing pipelines. e general a rmed support for NNPC’s activities, noting that the military forces had a number of strategies to tackle pipeline breaches.
e following day, Mansur Sambo, the head of NNPC’s subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum development Co. (NPdC), said it was essen- tial to work with the security forces in order to generate cash from the energy industry. Sambo had spoken to police and department of State Services (dSS) o cials.
“Our mandate in NPdC is to increase the company’s oil and gas production volume in order to generate more revenue for the country. is objective will only be achieved in a safe and secured environment,” Sambo was reported as saying on August 7.
In particular, he called for “constant surveil- lance” on NPdC’s assets in the states of Edo, delta and Bayelsa.™
Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran agree on energy network
MIddLe eAst
RuSSIA, Azerbaijan and Iran have concluded an agreement on the joint development of a project to connect their energy systems, Ria Novosti reported on August 14.
e newly announced deal implies the joint development of a feasibility study for the “North- South Energy Channel” integrating the systems of the three countries.
e Russian companies party to the agree- ment are SO-uPS and Rosseti. On the part of Azerbaijan and Iran, AzerEnerji ASC and man- agement company Tavanir will take part in the project, respectively.
Exchanges of electricity between Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran are already in operation, but for full integration of the countries’ power grids further work needs to be done.
At the same time, regional connections to the power networks of Georgia and Turkey are
developing.
e agreement is seen as in tandem with the
International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) multi-modal freight transport project. Azerbaijan has increased its generation of electricity, therefore the energy corridor is seen as an opportunity to increase power resource exports, reducing economic reliance on ship-
ments of gas and oil.
Iran and Russia need additional energy, thus
the possible synchronisation of power grids and the transfer of excess energy from Azerbaijan to the neighbouring countries will have a positive e ect both commercially and economically.
Iran suffers from spates of summertime power cuts. e corridor might help tackle that particular dilemma. On the other hand, during winter months when Iran needs less electricity, it might contribute power ows to the network.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 15•August•2019