Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 36

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Africa: Offshore activity warned the government that it could struggle to
Several African states have reported new off- pay this year’s annual dividend.
shore developments this week. Petronas will review the “affordability” of
In Senegal, the RSSD consortium has moved such a payment following the release of its
one step closer to finalising its new shareholder fourth-quarter results, company president and
line-up, with the signing of a binding sale and CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik Tengku Aziz
purchase agreement (SPA) between Austral- said on September 4.
ia’s Woodside Petroleum and UK-based Cairn “Our dividend payout is governed by our
Energy. The latter had previously arranged to sell affordability and will need to take into account
its equity in the offshore Sangomar block to Rus- our business-as-usual capex and immediate
sia’s Lukoil, but Woodside pre-empted the sale. financial obligations,” Taufik said at Petronas’
Meanwhile, Senegal’s government is looking first-half results briefing. “Our year-end results
to make Sangomar and other offshore blocks would be the guidance to set the expectation.
a future source of natural gas for the domestic That dialogue will continue as this industry
market. The country’s sovereign wealth fund has is volatile and, like other oil and gas compa-
secured a grant from the US Trade and Develop- nies, shareholders will tend to not see so much
ment Administration (USTDA) for a feasibility returns.”
study on the construction of a pipeline that could Petronas’ dividend was MYR24bn ($5.77bn)
deliver gas from the offshore zone to thermal in 2019, but 2020 is proving to be a much more
power plants (TPPs). challenging year, owing to the COVID-19
In Morocco, Chariot Oil & Gas (UK) has pandemic. The state major’s first-half revenue
wrapped up efforts to re-process 3D seismic shrank by 23% to MYR93.6bn ($22.52bn), down
data from the Lixus block. As a result of this from MYR121.1bn ($29.13bn) a year earlier, as
re-processing, Netherland Sewell & Associates a result of the collapse of oil and gas prices and
Inc. (NSAI) has revised the resource assessment sales volumes in the second quarter.
for a 50-square km section of the licence area Petronas posted a MYR21bn ($5.05bn) net
upwards by 148%. This section, which includes loss in April-June, after recording a MYR14.7bn
the Anchois field, is now thought to contain 1 ($3.54bn) net profit in the same period of 2019.
trillion cubic feet (28.3bn cubic metres) of nat- Second-quarter revenue, meanwhile, tum-
ural gas. bled 42% y/y to MYR34bn ($8.18bn) from
Further east, Egypt has stepped up talks with MYR59.1bn ($14.22bn).
Cyprus on proposals for a joint pipeline con- Taufik said that while the pandemic had
struction project. The proposed pipeline would placed additional financial pressure on the
pump gas southward from the Aphrodite field government, the board had to review Petronas’
offshore Cyprus to the Egyptian coast, where it finances before committing to any payment. He
could be turned into LNG and exported to other then noted that the board was contemplating
markets. The project could help Egypt achieve a company-wide salary cut in order to avoid
its aim of becoming a regional energy trading redundancies.
hub, but it may also be affected by geopolitical He added: “As such, we would not take this
developments. decision lightly and we will deliberate on all
possible options. With regard to the current
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping position, I do not want to pursue the path of
the former Soviet Union’s oil and gas sector then please retrenchment or layoffs. We have to share the
click here for NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor . pain.”

Asia: Petronas may shelve 2020 dividend If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
After posting a first-half net loss of MYR16.5bn Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
($3.97bn), Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas has NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.

Week 35 03•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7