Page 17 - DMEA Week 11 2021

DMEA NEWS IN BRIEF DMEA

at $53/mt, Platts data showed. addressing the problem. down because no crude to refine as it has been
In the upstream marine fuel 0.5%S cargo The resolution was sequel to the adoption diverted,” he said.
market too, prices of IMO-compliant fuel of a motion by Rep. Ben Igbakpa (PDP- VANGUARD
loading in Fujairah have raced ahead of Delta) at plenary on Wednesday. Speaking,
Singapore in the recent days. Product loading Igbakpa said that the Warri Refinery and
from the Middle Eastern port typically trades Petrochemical Company was mandated to TERMINALS & SHIPPING
at a discount to Singapore. produce refined product from mainly local
The spread between FOB Singapore marine crude. Karpowership, Mitsui
fuel 0.5%S and FOB Fujairah marine fuel He explained that the three main sections
0.5%S cargo has progressively narrowed since of the production department which were prepare to deploy FSRU
early last week. After flipping into a negative reforming, crude distillation and catalytic
on March 12, the spread has further widened cracking units have operated for the past years offshore Senegal
to minus $13.28/mt on March 16, the highest due to the efforts of its personnel. According
that marine fuel 0.5%S cargo loading in to him, the plants were operating at an output Karmol, a joint venture formed by Turkey’s
Fujairah has traded over Singapore in the last of around 115m3/hour which translates to Karpowership and Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines
13 months. about 68 per cent installed capacity. (MOL), is preparing to transfer a floating
Meanwhile, the company’s second unit at The rep said that products from the storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to
Fujairah was expected to restart by the end of refinery included, Premium Motor Spirit Senegal, where it will be used for an LNG-to-
the week started March 14, a company source (PMS) or Petrol, Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), power project.
said. Kerosene (DPK), LPG or cooking gas, In a statement, MOL said that the joint
Even if the second unit came back up Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) for Ships and venture taken delivery of the ship, known as
online as is expected, current tight availability Industrial Fuel Carbon Black. “The refinery the Karmol LNGT Powership Africa, from
situation was likely to persist going into the has not operate optimally due to allegedly the Sembcorp Marine shipyard in Singapore
week starting March 21, as there was a rather top management decisions of the Nigerian on March 15. It also stated that it had begun
long queue of suppliers waiting to load out National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to sea trials of the vessel in advance of its
product from Uniper, traders said. ground the plant for personal benefit from deployment off the coast of Senegal.
“I heard one [unit] is back online and the marketers importing products that can be Karmol indicated that it expected the new
other is expected this week, but the situation produced in the refinery. FSRU to depart from Singapore in early April
don’t seem to be improving till next week as a “The plant had severally shutdown due to and arrive in Senegalese waters by mid-May
lot of loadings are lined up...it’s a long line of haulage challenges, neglect in the evacuation so that it can begin commercial operations
people waiting to load,” said a Fujairah-based of products, lack of functional or operational in June. Once the unit arrives, it said, it will
trader. storage tanks and poor maintenance culture support the operations of the Karadeniz
Uniper has two 40,000 b/d distillation on the part of management which also Powership Ayşegül Sultan, a vessel that
columns in Fujairah, right alongside Vitol’s constitutes another reason for the refinery Karpowership has deployed offshore Senegal.
82,000 b/d refinery. These two columns, which non-functionality. “Aware of the alleged plan Each of the two ships is capable of storing
together constitute a micro refinery of sorts, to ground the plant from refining products 125,000 cubic metres of gas, it noted.
have been designed to process low sulfur by members of the top echelon of the Warri The Turkish company has been using
crude oils to produce low sulfur fuel oil to the Refinery in collaboration with the Chief the Karadeniz Powership Sultan to generate
tune of about 300,000 mt/month. Operating Officer (COO) as well as diverting electricity for delivery to Senegal’s domestic
S&P PLATTS crude meant for refining. market since August 2019. The ship has a
“Also awarethat when crude oil is delivered generating capacity of 235 MW and currently
Reps to investigate alleged from Escravous tank farm for refining, the covers for about 15% of the West African
state’s total power consumption. It was
products are hoarded for about 14 days and
sabotage of Warri Refinery thereafter diverted through the refinery jetty installed offshore Ghana before its transfer to
to interested buyers (or specific companies
Senegal.
The House of Representatives has resolved to they have special interests in) who pay The Karpowership vessel is capable of
investigate alleged sabotage responsible for less. “The resultant effects of this perceived using both heavy residual fuel oil and natural
frequent shutdown of Warri Refinery, towards economic sabotage is that the plant is brought gas to generate power. However, the Turkish

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