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AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec
Libya’s NOC says gas flows disrupted following unauthorised pipeline closure
LIBYA
LIBYA’S National Oil Corp. (NOC) has reported a disruption in natural gas flows through a pipe- line serving the western part of the country.
In a statement, NOC said that the pipeline had been subject to an “illegal closure ... at valve LVS-5 in the region of Sidi el-Sayeh.” It did not identify the culprits but said that the incident had led to a suspension in gas deliveries to local cement factories and to thermal power plants (TPPs) in Misurata and el-Khoms.
The incident led to electricity shortages in parts of western Libya, the company added.
NOC and one of its subsidiaries, Brega Petroleum Marketing Co. (BPMC), responded to the disruption of gas deliveries by sending diesel to local power stations that were capable of burning liquid fuels to produce electricity. It noted, though, that this move had strained the company.
“[Diesel deliveries] will increase costs and put further pressure on reduced budgets, [owing] to the ongoing disruption of local refineries as a result of oil blockades in the country,” it said.
Mustafa Sanalla, the chairman of NOC, crit- icised the parties responsible for the closure of
the pipeline. The incident could hamper efforts to rein in the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, he asserted.
“At a critical juncture in the fight against COVID-19, some Libyans decided to abuse the situation and starve the capital of electricity,” Sanalla said. “This puts more pressure on NOC to import large quantities of fuel, which is espe- cially difficult due to the new restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the disease. This crimi- nal and inhumane closure must end immediately without delay.”
The NOC chief was speaking shortly before the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) announced that it had retaken control of three cities from the Libyan National Army (LNA), a separatist group loyal to mili- tary commander Khalifa Haftar. On April 13, the GNA reported that it had wrested Surman, Habratha and Al-Ajaylat away from LNA forces. All three cities lie west of Tripoli and are not far from Zawiya, the home of a refinery that NOC took offline in February after Haftar’s allies closed the pipelines that supply it with crude oil.™
ExxonMobil delays FID on Rovuma LNG
MOZANBIQUE
SUPER-MAJOR ExxonMobil has announced that it is pushing back a final investment deci- sion (FID) on the proposed Rovuma LNG pro- ject in Mozambique, which had previously been expected this year. The move had been widely anticipated in the wake of the oil price collapse, which led the company to warn in March that it was reviewing its spending for this year and planning cutbacks.
On April 7, ExxonMobil announced a 30% cut to its capital expenditure budget for this year. While this cut will largely affect the US’ Permian Basin, the super-major mentioned in its state- ment that the FID on Rovuma would be delayed. “ExxonMobil continues to actively work with its partners and the government to optimise development plans by improving synergies and exploring opportunities related to the current lower-cost environment,” the company stated.
The delay is the second one in recent months for Rovuma LNG. An FID had previously been anticipated in 2019, but was pushed back to 2020. However, the engineering, procure- ment and construction (EPC) contract for the project was awarded in October 2019, to
JGC-led consortium that also consists of Fluor and TechnipFMC.
Rovuma LNG represents the largest ever pri- vate investment in an African country. The scale of the project makes the latest delay unsurpris- ing, as ExxonMobil is looking to cut spending. The facility would have the capacity to produce 15.2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG and has been estimated to cost $27-33bn to build.
ExxonMobil noted that the Coral floating LNG (FLNG) development – which will use feedstock gas from Area 4 offshore Mozambique along with Rovuma LNG – was continuing as planned. The Coral Sul FLNG facility will have a capacity of about 3.4mn tpy of LNG, supplied by six subsea wells, and is already under construc- tion, with start-up planned for 2022.
The other partners in Area 4 are Eni, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), Mozam- bique’s ENH, Korea Gas (KOGAS) and Portu- gal’s Galp. ExxonMobil farmed into Area 4 in December 2017, and is due to lead the construc- tion and operation of all future liquefaction facil- ities, while Eni will continue to lead the Coral FLNG project and all upstream operations.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 15 16•April•2020