Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 38

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec
the cargoes it sends to JXTG Nippon from Arab Light to Arab Heavy and Medium grades.
Speculating on the rationale, the sources told Nikkei that it was likely that repair work on a damaged desulphurisation unit is taking longer than anticipated.
One JXTG executive was quoted as saying: “It is difficult to believe that Aramco’s produc- tion will be fully restored by the end of the month.”
The report noted that while other distrib- utors Idemitsu Kosan and Cosmo Energy had not been informed of any changes, all three had been told to anticipate delays for October ship- ments of several days.
Reuters quoted a Chinese official as say- ing last week that Aramco had informed Pet- roChina that some light crude loadings for October would be delayed by around 10 days as a result of the outage, while some light Sep- tember shipments would be replaced with heavy crude.
Meanwhile, Reuters quoted sources on Sep- tember 23 as saying that Sinopec’s trading arm Unipec would lift Arab Heavy crude instead of Arab Light and Arab Extra Light this month.
The sources added that India Oil Corp. (IOC) would be loading Arab Heavy instead of
mostly Arab Extra Light on the VLCC Kalamos vessel, while two South Korean refiners have agreed to substitute medium and heavy grades in for Arab Light and Extra Light for September and October.
Despite Aramco’s assurances, the delays appear to be continuing, with one Japanese refining source telling Reuters that VLCC Tango was still awaiting its Banoco Arab Medium crude load. He said that Aramco had given notice of a delay “but every day it’s revised. I’m afraid the situation is more serious than we assumed but still information is limited.”
All of this suggests that bringing Abqaiq back into full operation is likely to take some time. The facility is critical for processing the Arab Light and Arab Extra Light processed at the Ghawar, Khurais and Shaybah fields. For at least the last year, Ghawar has been running at around 3.7mn bpd, down from previous indus- try estimates of 5mn bpd+, while Khurais has an Arab Light capacity of 1.2mn bpd from a total output of 1.45mn bpd, and Shaybah produces 1mn bpd of Arab Extra Light.
All eyes will continue to focus on repairs at Abqaiq, and with customised equipment thought to be required to resume full opera- tions, these will take some time.™
HYDRO
Uzbekistan to export electricity at reduced price to Afghanistan for 10 years
AFGHANISTAN
A newly signed electricity supply agreement struck between senior Afghan and Uzbek offi- cials, signed on September 21, features a fixed reduced price for electricity exports from Uzbek- istan for 10 years, Afghan broadcaster TOLO- news reported.
Electricity exports to Afghanistan from Central Asian nations, such as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, have always been subject to price fluctuations and export deals have never exceeded any more than one year.
he new 10-year agreement will allow Afghan- istan to save up to $600mn in electricity import costs as Uzbekistan will cover the maintenance costs of the electricity transmission line, Afghan Acting Finance Minister Humayun Qayumi said.
Afghanistan will pay $0.05 per kWh of imported power, the report said.
“With this agreement, Afghanistan’s system will be synchronized with Uzbekistan’s and this will help us purchase power from Kyrgyzstan,
Kazakhstan and Tajikistan,” Qayumi said Energy-hungry Afghanistan is keen to import more electricity from Central Asia as in a bid to diversify supply sources and to limit its
reliance on Pakistan for electricity.
Central Asia is a major source of hydropower
from its large rivers, but poor grid connections to Afghanistan and Pakistan and low rates of investment in elderly Soviet-era infrastructure has lessened the region’s export potential. ™
P6
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 38 24 •September•2019