Page 7 - AfrOil Week 36 2021

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

“I wonder why local leaders are talking of East Africa. Western press agencies covering
delayed benefits, yet for the country to commer- LLCOP (itself a project with a lower profile than
cialise crude oil so that we get profit out of it, we EACOP) have made the occasional mention of
must have land to lay a pipeline from Lokichar disagreements over land acquisition in Kenya,
to Lamu, which assures us of 80,000 barrels [per] but they have generally not gone into much
day,” he said. (The pipeline’s projected capacity detail. Likewise, Western NGOs such as Green-
will be 80,000-100,000 barrels per day, or bpd.) peace, which was one of the signatories of the
He also indicated that the midstream pro- open letter that led some banks to reconsider
ject would help determine whether oilfields in funding for EACOP, have not taken up Turkana
the South Lokichar basin ever produced at full County’s cause.
capacity. The government is hoping that these It remains to be seen whether the situation
deposits eventually yield 150,000 bpd, he noted. changes – that is, whether the LLCOP land dis-
putes start attracting notice outside the region.
Into the spotlight? They may not, given that the Lokichar-Lamu
This matter is far from settled. Kenya’s govern- link has a lower profile and a lower price tag,
ment has shown that it is keen to push LLCOP $1.5bn, compared with $5bn for EACOP. But if
forward, and Turkana County authorities have they do – if, say, the project draws the attention
demonstrated that they are willing to continue of groups that lobby for indigenous communi-
their fight against the project. ties’ rights – Nairobi may end up contending
Thus far, though, the dispute between the with the court of public opinion as well as the
two sides has not drawn much attention outside Turkana County government. ™

PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
Sonangol signs three contracts for Barro

do Dando fuel terminal

ANGOLA ANGOLA’S national oil company (NOC)
Sonangol reported last week that it had finalised
several contracts related to the planned con-
struction of a petroleum product import termi-
nal at Barro do Dande, about 60 km north of the
capital Luanda.
In a statement, Sonangol said it had signed
three new contracts, including a contract with
OECI, the international arm of the Brazilian
construction giant OEC (formerly known as
Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção) for engi-
neering, procurement, construction and com-
missioning (EPCC) services.
The NOC also signed two contracts with
local firms – one with DAR Angola for super-
vision of the terminal project and another with
SOAPRO for an environmental impact assess-
ment (EIA).
As of press time, Sonangol had not revealed
the value of the contracts. It did stress, though,
that it had chosen the three contractors in public
tenders. The proposed terminal will be built 60 km north of Luanda (Image: TwoSeven)
OECI confirmed the NOC’s statement, say-
ing in a press release last week that it had won the daughter of Angola’s former president Jose
the contract through a competitive bidding Eduardo dos Santos. (Isabel dos Santos, one of
process. It noted that it had been one of nine the richest women in Africa, is widely believed
international companies to submit offers for the to have used her family connections to secure
EPCC contract and attributed its success to its the chairmanship of Sonangol and control of
own extensive experience in similar projects. various valuable assets.)
The project has been the subject of some con- When finished, the Barro do Dande terminal
troversy in the past, as it was originally assigned will serve as a point of entry for petroleum prod-
to a businessman with ties to Isabel dos Santos, uct deliveries to Angola.

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