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Construction site of the
Dangote oil refinery.

Meanwhile, Mozambique is one step closer down 9.8% on the year to 15.18mn tonnes
to realising its LNG ambitions. Eni has reported (3.71mn bpd), this was driven by a fall in eco-
that Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has finished nomic activity on the back of government lock-
installing the topside modules of the floating LNG down measures.
(FLNG) vessel that will be used to liquefy natural Indeed, the country is beginning to show
gas from the offshore Area 4 block. The ship will be renewed appetite for energy, with Pradhan not-
the first FLNG to operate at an ultra-deepwater site. ing that domestic gasoline, diesel and liquid
In other news, Sudan’s national oil company petroleum gas (LPG) sales rose last year.
(NOC) Sudapet is preparing to bring the al-Rawat “We anticipate that this recovery path in
oilfield on stream. The site is expected to yield 3,000 energy demand growth in India will sustain in
barrels per day, raising the country’s total crude out- the coming months,” Pradhan said. He added
put to 64,000 bpd. Sudapet’s announcement follows that the country’s share of global energy con-
the signing of an agreement between Sudan and sumption was projected to rise from 7% to 12%
South Sudan that will see the two neighbouring by 2050.
countries work together to restart key sites such as Part of the government’s strategy to raise
the Total and Unity oilfields. investor interest in its SPR programme has been
to allow Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC)
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping to re-export some of the oil it stored in the Man-
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for galore SPR.
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor . Pradhan said in September that the country
was considering also strategic storage in the US
India invites IOCs to invest in SPR and other “commercially viable locations”.
The Indian government is looking to attract
investment from international oil companies If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
(IOCs) in its next wave of strategic petroleum the Asian oil and gas sector then please click here for
reserve (SPR) development. NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor .
New Delhi was looking for “global” inves-
tors to help fund the addition of 6.5mn tonnes Nigerian protests
(47.65mn barrels) of SPR capacity over two Nigerian workers demonstrated on November 3
facilities in Chandikol and Padur, Indian Minis- over pay issues outside the 650,000 barrel per day
ter for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra (bpd) refinery Dangote is developing near Lagos.
Pradhan told an industry event on November 9. The protests come at a time when Nigeria is in
He said: “I invite global energy players to come the grip of civil unrest, triggered by outrage over
and invest in this project.” civil and human rights abuses.
The country already has three underground According to Dangote, the protestors were
facilities in Padur, Mangalore and Visakhap- not its employees but were subcontractors. They
atnam, with 2.5mn tonnes (18.33mn barrels), are complaining about low wages and poor
1.5mn tonnes (11mn barrels) and 1.33mn working conditions, reports on social media
tonnes (9.75mn barrels) of capacity respectively. state.
However, declining domestic production The refinery is being erected at the Lekki free
and a historic upward trend in oil imports has trade zone some 70 km east of Lagos, Nigeria’s
impressed on the government the need for emer- commercial capital. Nigeria is counting on the
gency stockpiles to mitigate oil market shocks. $10bn project, due on stream in two years, to
The country’s production of crude and con- end its dependence on fuel imports and even
densate shrank 6.05% year on year in Septem- produce a surplus for export. Dangote said
ber to 2.49mn tonnes (608,000 barrels per day). this month that the refinery had reached 80%
While imports also contracted in September, completion.

Week 45 12•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P5