Page 5 - FSUOGM Week 27

FSUOGM NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) FSUOGM

NRG: Bracing for the

second wave

Oil prices have risen further over the past week, but the recovery could be checked

by the second wave of coronavirus infections

GLOBAL WELCOME to the ninth edition of NewsBase’s South African divestments and develop-
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of ments
international editors provide you with a snap- South African companies have had a busy week.
shot of some of the key issues affecting their Sasol, the country’s largest corporate tax-
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s payer, is looking to shed some of its foreign
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign assets. On July 6, the company confirmed that
up here. it intended to give up its exploration licences for
Crude prices regained ground last week and Blocks 16 and 19, two adjacent sites lying off-
the trend continued into this week, with front- shore Mozambique. Its decision appears to have
month contracts for WTI and Brent closing at been driven, at least in part, by the results of an
$40.63 and $43.10 per barrel respectively on July environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.
6. The recovery has been driven by economies This move closely followed Sasol’s announce-
reopening and fuel consumption recovering to ment of plans to divest its indirect stake in the
normal levels, supported by OPEC+’s sacrificial Escravos gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Nigeria
cuts. Most of the oil cartel’s members are keeping within the framework of a broader divestment
to their agreed quotas, and they have maintained programme. The firm is set to sell the asset to the
their resolve. US major Chevron, its partner in the project. It
However, a second wave of coronavirus hopes the sale will help strengthen its financial
(COVID-19) infections is now sweeping across position during the downturn resulting from the
much of the world, with daily new confirmed COVID-19 pandemic.
cases surging beyond 200,000 per day. Oil mar- Meanwhile, Astron Energy is recovering
kets are starting to brace for another steep fall from a fire that broke out at its Milnerton refin-
in oil demand, and OPEC+ seems unlikely to ery in Cape Town on July 2. Jonathan Molapo,
counter this by extending its record deep cuts the company’s CEO, has pledged to investigate
beyond July. the incident at the 100,000 barrel per day (bpd)

Week 27 08•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P5