Page 13 - AfrOil Week 09 2021
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AfrOil POLICY AfrOil
He continued: “With the Kingdom of Morocco’s within the Lixus block offshore Morocco that
support, we intend to build on the positive con- is believed to hold 1 trillion cubic feet (28.3bn
versations we are already having with entities cubic metres) in recoverable reserves.
involved in the Moroccan gas market, giving us They have said they intend to drill two wells
greater confidence that we will sign the neces- at the field and use subsea tie-ins to connect
sary agreements to expedite the development of them to a subsea manifold outfitted with a
this value accretive gas project, for the benefit of 40-km flowline that pumps gas to an onshore
the Kingdom and Chariot’s investors.” processing facility. This facility, in turn, will be
Equity in the Lixus block is split 75% to linked to an existing trunk pipeline that is used
Chariot and 25% to OHNYM. The partners to export North African gas to Europe via a
hope to develop Anchois, a gas-containing field 40-km onshore pipe.
Liberia will be able to import more refined fuels when the depot is completed (File photo)
Liberia begins construction work
on new Harper fuel storage facility
LIBERIA LIBERIA’S National Port Authority (NPA) has made by fuel dealers in Harper, several of whom
begun construction work on a new petroleum told FrontPageAfrica last week that they did not
product storage depot within the framework of have adequate options for sourcing petroleum
a wider effort to refurbish the port of Harper. products from domestic suppliers. Many roads
NPA marked the start of construction last week, in south-eastern Liberia are in such poor con-
in a ceremony attended by Liberian President dition that importing fuel from neighbouring
George Weah. Côte d’Ivoire is simply easier, they explained.
At the ceremony, Weah said he expected In turn, they said, the need to buy from foreign
the project to benefit the country by improving suppliers drives the price of petroleum products
supply conditions on the domestic fuel market. up.
Once the new storage facility is complete, he NPA will need two years to finish building
explained, Liberia will be able to import more the new storage facility, which carries a price tag
petroleum products and make larger volumes of $6mn.
available to the south-eastern counties, includ- The government has urged the agency to
ing Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, Maryland and dredge the port of Harper so that it can accom-
River Gee. modate larger fuel tankers, but Bill Twehway,
Currently, he noted, these areas consume NPA’s managing director, said at last week’s
mostly imported fuel. He described this depend- launch ceremony that this goal would be diffi-
ence on imports as less than ideal and said that cult to achieve without additional state funding.
the additional storage capacity would facilitate Liberia experienced extensive fuel shortages
domestic sales while also making the port of in the first quarter of 2020 amidst problems
Harper more profitable. related to excessive withdrawals from existing
His statements are in line with complaints storage depots.
Week 09 03•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13
