Page 15 - AsianOil Week 36

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Africa: Offshore activity $2.5bn annual bill for imports of gasoline, diesel
Several African states have reported new off- and other key oil products.
shore developments this week. The country has a number of new refining
In Senegal, the RSSD consortium has moved projects in the works, but many of them are at an
one step closer to finalising its new shareholder early stage of development.
line-up, with the signing of a bunding sale and In fact, given the economic crisis Iraq is fac-
purchase agreement (SPA) between Australia’s ing, these schemes seem more like a wish list
Woodside Petroleum and UK-based Cairn Energy. than a concrete programme for developing the
The latter had previously arranged to sell its equity sector.
in the offshore Sangomar block to Russia’s Lukoil, However, the country is making tangible pro-
but Woodside pre-empted the sale. gress in some areas. Last month it hired Japan’s
Meanwhile, Senegal’s government is looking to JGC to build various new processing units at the
make Sangomar and other offshore blocks a future Shuaiba oil refinery for $3.75bn. In late August,
source of natural gas for the domestic market. The Iraq’s Oil Ministry also ordered the capacity of
country’s sovereign wealth fund has secured a grant the Sumood refinery to be raised to 140,000 bar-
from the US Trade and Development Administra- rels per day (bpd) within months, from 75,000
tion (USTDA) for a feasibility study on the con- bpd at present. At a later stage, its output will
struction of a pipeline that could deliver gas from reach 280,000 bpd.
the offshore zone to thermal power plants (TPPs). The plant was significantly damaged during
In Morocco, Chariot Oil & Gas (UK) has the ISIS invasion and occupation, and again
wrapped up efforts to re-process 3D seismic data when it was retaken by Iraqi forces. Iraq plans to
from the Lixus block. As a result of this re-process- restore its output by modernising and repairing
ing, Netherland Sewell & Associates Inc (NSAI) has its processing trains.
revised the resource assessment for a 50-square km Meanwhile Baghdad has not given up on
section of the licence area upwards by 148%. This longstanding plans to build a $8bn petrochemi-
section, which includes the Anchois field, is now cal complex in Nibras. The Oil Ministry said on
thought to contain 1tn cubic feet (28.3bn cubic August 31 that a final agreement on the venture
metres) of natural gas. with Royal Dutch Shell would be signed before
Further east, Egypt has stepped up talks with the end of the year, despite market challenges.
Cyprus on proposals for a joint pipeline construc-
tion project. The proposed pipeline would pump If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
gas southward from the Aphrodite field offshore the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
Cyprus to the Egyptian coast, where it could be then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
made into LNG and exported to other markets. The
project could help Egypt achieve its aim of becom- European deal-making
ing a regional energy trading hub, but it may also be The UK has offered for award some 113 licences
affected by geopolitical developments. to 65 companies in its latest offshore licensing
round. The winners of the round included a
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping broad range of companies, ranging from majors
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for such as BP, Royal Dutch Shell and France’s Total,
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. to mid-sized players such as Neptune Energy,
Chrysaor and Premier Oil and smaller inde-
DMEA: Iraq stays the course pendents like Deltic Energy, Independent Oil &
Iraq may be a key Middle Eastern oil producer, Gas (IOG) and Corallian Energy.
but after years of conflict and under-investment, Meanwhile, OGA, the country’s upstream
it lacks the refining capacity to meet domestic regulator, says it is holding off on further rounds
fuel demand. As a result, it typically chalks up a for a while, while the government reviews its

Week 36 10•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15