Page 17 - AfrOil Week 09 2022

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Meanwhile, the remaining amount – approxi- gasoline had been certified as being compliant
mately $20mn, or 0.30% of the total – arose from with specification at both the port of loading and
smaller source of income, including sales of gas the port of discharge by the relevant authorities.
and income (interest) earned on the Petroleum Duke Oil only learned of the trouble after dis-
Holding Fund (PHF), as well as price differen- charge, when NNPC reported that inspectors
tials/other income, GNA said. had found that the gasoline cargo contained
The assessment was funded by the State Sec- higher than acceptable levels of methanol.
retariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland Afanga Afanga, a representative of Oando,
through the Governance for Inclusive Develop- made a similar statement. He stressed that his
ment programme of GIZ. company’s gasoline cargo had met inspectors’
bna/IntelliNews, March 2 2022 standards in port, both at loading and at dis-
charge, and did not encounter any obstacles
declared that Ghana risked seeing its crude oil until it was submitted to more thorough testing
POLICY and natural gas assets becoming stranded if it by NNPC inspectors. “As clearly stated by NNPC
took an overly rigid approach to reducing car- last week when they were before this honoura-
Sonatrach head: Algeria bon dioxide emissions. While climate change ble committee, [the] current inspection proto-
poses a genuine risk to the world, Mercer said, col does not include testing for methanol content
ready to compensate Accra cannot ignore the possibility that emis- and thus [the contamination] was not detected
sions reduction policies may harm the national [in port] by the NNPC quality inspectors,” he
Europe for extra gas economy. explained.
Meanwhile, Brittania-U, one of the members
“The objectives of a National Energy Transi-
Algeria’s state-owned energy firm Sonatrach tion Plan should ... take into consideration the of a four-part consortium identified as culpa-
said it is ready to supply the EU with extra gas peculiar circumstances of Ghana’s abundant ble for importing contaminated gasoline, also
amid the Ukraine crisis as the European coun- natural resources and her development needs, denied responsibility. In a letter to the commit-
tries which usually depend on the Russian gas as articulated by President [Nana] Akufo-Addo tee, the company’s chairperson and CEO Uju
flow face potential gas shortages, the firm’s CEO in Glasgow, Scotland during the COP26 con- Ifejika said that NNPC had never informed it
Toufik Hakkar pointed out in an interview with ference,” he said, referring to the event held last that the gasoline had failed to meet requirements
the daily Liberte. autumn. during the time in question. It disputed the alle-
The extra Algerian gas will flow to the EU via The deputy minister also emphasised that gation and said that the state-owned company
the Transmed pipeline linking Algeria to Italy, Africa was currently the smallest source of car- had not provided evidence for its claim.
Hakkar said, noting that the extra LNG flows will bon dioxide emissions in the world, on a conti- bna/IntelliNews, February 28 2022
be offered after domestic demand and contrac- nental scale, and called for the energy transition
tual engagements are met. to be a fair process for low-, middle- and high-in- AA says South African fuel
The TransMed pipeline, jointly operated with come countries alike.
Italy’s Eni, has a capacity of some 32bn cubic “[It] would be wholly unfair for the world to price hike will hurt the poor
metres per year – four times that of the Medgaz demand that Africa abandons the exploitation
pipeline to Spain. Some capacity, nearly 10 bcm of our resources needed to finance her develop- The Automobile Association of South Africa
per year, is still unused. ment and help us to cope better with the threat says that the fuel price increase announced this
Algeria accounts for about 11% of Europe’s of climate change, at a time when many coun- past week will have a sharp and immediate effect
gas imports. Algerian LNG can also be trans- tries on the continent have just discovered them,” on the poor and a long-term impact on inflation.
ported via tankers. Existing liquefaction plants Mercer commented. The fuel prices are set to be adjusted at mid-
are only operating at 50-60% of capacity. bna/IntelliNews, March 2 2022 night today.
Last month, Sonatrach said it would invest “The increase will certainly impact every sin-
$40bn into oil exploration, production and Nigeria: Companies blamed gle South African, given the reliance the country
refinement, as well as gas prospecting and has on fuels for transport, manufacturing and in
extraction, until 2026. for contaminated gasoline the agricultural sector,” said the AA speaking to
bna/IntelliNews, February 27 2022 IOL Business Report.
Petrol is expected to cost ZAR1.46 more per
Deputy energy minister imports deny responsibility litre; diesel will cost ZAR1.44 per litre to as much
Several of the companies named by Nigerian as ZAR1.48 per litre more and illuminating par-
says Ghana must take National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) as responsi- affin will rise by ZAR1.21 per litre more.
The AA, attributes the increases to the rising
ble for importing contaminated gasoline into the
cautious approach to country have denied responsibility for doing so. international petroleum prices as a result of Rus-
When summoned to appear before mem-
sia’s invasion of Ukraine and these would have
energy transition bers of the Nigerian House of Representatives’ been more severe had the rand not stabilised
against the US dollar in the past few weeks.
Committee on Petroleum Resources (Down-
Accra should not adopt decarbonisation policies stream) last week, representatives of Duke Oil According to the AA, they remain unclear
so strict that they limit options for the develop- and Oando averred that the gasoline they had regarding next month but Russia’s military
ment of Ghana’s hydrocarbon resources, Deputy loaded in Antwerp and delivered to Lagos had action in Ukraine could push international oil
Energy Minister Andrew Egyapa Mercer said on met Nigerian specifications. prices higher, which would again have an impact
March 1. Lawal Sade, the managing director of Duke on South Africa.
Speaking at a town hall event in Takoradi, he Oil, a subsidiary of NNPC, testified that the bna/IntelliNews, March 1 2022

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