Page 7 - DMEA Week 05 2022
P. 7
DMEA POLICY & SECURITY DMEA
Sylva hails petroleum
ministry’s performance
AFRICA NIGERIA’S Minister of State for Petroleum which calls for the gasification of the national
Resource Timipre Sylva delivered a favourable economy by 2030. He also said that the ministry
assessment of his agency’s performance, assert- had played a key role in launching the renova-
ing on January 28 that the Federal Ministry of tion of the four oil refineries owned by Nigerian
Petroleum Resources (FMPR) had carried out all National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and the
of the tasks assigned to it by President Muham- launch of the Train 7 project by the Nigeria LNG
madu Buhari. (NLNG) consortium.
According to a statement read by Enefaa In the meantime, he continued, the minis-
Bob-Manuel, the ministry’s director of informa- try is working to determine its priorities for the
tion, Sylva told members of the ministry’s man- remainder of Buhari’s term, which will come
agement and staff at a town hall meeting that the to an end next year. “Today, what we are doing
state body was upholding all of its responsibili- is working out additional mandates, and I can
ties. “The Ministry of Petroleum Resources has assure you that in the next one and half years
declared that it has delivered on all the priority available to us we will be able to deliver on the
project areas assigned to the ministry by Presi- additional mandates we have devised for our-
dent Muhammadu Buhari,” he said. selves,” he stated.
He listed a number of the ministry’s accom- This year is likely to prove very eventful for
plishments, pointing to the passage of Nigeria’s the ministry, and there will be a great deal of
Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which the pres- work to do, he added. He also hinted that he did
ident signed into law last year, and the imple- not expect the agency to start any major new pro-
mentation of the “Decade of Gas” programme, jects in 2022.
Gas to Europe up for discussion
between Israel, Turkey
MIDDLE EAST AN attempt by Turkey to revive a proposal for Israel. Israel responded in kind.
the export of Israeli gas to Europe via a Turk- Turkey’s renewed interest in pushing its pro-
ish hub looks set to be on the agenda for an ject to deliver Israeli gas to Europe appears to
expected February visit to Ankara by Israel’s have been sparked by the US withdrawing sup-
president, Isaac Herzog—although analysts are port for the EastMed pipeline, a project designed
not convinced the project would be commer- to transit gas from Israel to European states via
cially sound. Cyprus and Greece.
In an interview with private NTV broad- The US State Department framed the deci-
caster late on January 26, Turkish President sion as part of the move away from carbon-in-
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his Israeli counter- tensive projects and towards cleaner energy
part would visit in the first half of February. alternatives.
Ties between Turkey and Israel have grown After the rejection outlined by the US, Erdo-
tense under Erdogan, an outspoken critic of Isra- gan told reporters: “This business [of transiting
el’s policies toward the Palestinians. Israeli gas] cannot be done without Turkey.
However, Erdogan said: “With this visit, Because if [gas] will be transferred to Europe
a new era can begin in the Israeli and Turkish from here, it will only happen through Turkey.”
relationship.” However, Charles Ellinas of the Atlantic
The countries withdrew their ambassadors in Council on January 27 expressed scepticism at
2010 after Israeli forces stormed a Gaza-bound the possibility of a Turkish-Israeli solution, tell-
flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for the Pales- ing Ahval it was “far-fetched”.
tinians that breached an Israeli blockade. Nine Even in the unlikely event that Tel Aviv
Turkish activists died in the incident. agreed to the proposal, it would still face many
Relations broke down again in 2018, after of the same challenges that ended the prospects
Turkey, protesting at the US moving its embassy for the EastMed pipeline, he was cited as saying,
to Jerusalem, once more recalled its envoy from adding: “It’s not commercially viable.”
Week 05 03•February•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
