Page 18 - AfrOil Week 40

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

At that time, they said they hoped to finish the the adjustment of construction and financing
$1.3bn conversion project in time for the Gimi schedules respectively,” it added.
FLNG unit to begin liquefying gas from the UK-based BP is leading development efforts
Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim block in 2022. But at the Greater Tortue/Ahmeyim block, which
in April 2020, BP declared force majeure on the straddles the maritime border between Senegal
project, saying it wanted to delay receipt of the and Mauritania. The super-major and its part-
vessel for 12 months in light of the coronavirus ners intend to extract hydrocarbons from the
(COVID-19) pandemic. ultra-deepwater block using a floating produc-
Bermuda-registered Golar LNG criticised tion, storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessel. The
this move, saying it did not expect the pan- FPSO will then transfer gas to the Gimi FLNG,
demic to lead to such a long delay. However, it which is capable of turning out about 2.5mn
also began discussions with Singapore-based tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG. ™
Keppel, its main contractor, citing a need “to
re-schedule activities in order to reduce and
re-profile its capital spending commitments for
2020 and 2021.” Later, it conceded that it had no
choice but to revise its work schedule, citing the
impact of lockdowns in Singapore.
Since then, BP and Golar LNG have been
working to draw up a new work plan. They have
now wrapped up talks on the matter and have
agreed to preserve the original 20-year term of
the charter, according to the latter company’s
statement.
Additionally, BP has lifted its declaration
of force majeure, Golar LNG noted. These
developments are “expected to facilitate the
conclusion of ongoing discussions with both
engineering, procurement and construction
[EPC] contractors and lending banks regarding The block lies offshore Senegal and Mauritania (Image: Kosmos Energy)

Nilepet outlines development strategy

SOUTH SUDAN SOUTH Sudan’s national oil company (NOC) a very ambitious plan because we need to have
Nilepet is looking to expand its domestic oper- strategic reserves. We want to extend our retail
ations and become a vertically integrated firm. outlets to all the major towns in South Sudan,”
According to James Yugusuk, the compa- he stated.
ny’s director-general for downstream activi- He went on to say that Nilepet was eager to
ties, Nilepet wants to be able to lead domestic expand training programmes for local workers.
upstream projects. “We want to have our own “We want to raise world-class South Sudanese
block to operate,” he was quoted as saying by technical staff ... We also want to have a strong
Africa Oil + Gas Report. footprint in the research and development pro-
The NOC is working “to build the capacity grammes,” he commented.
of our national staff such that between 2022 and Additionally, he said that the NOC wanted
2027 we’ll become a standalone operator, able to to establish alliances with international oil com-
work up and develop hydrocarbon acreages by panies (IOCs) in the oilfield services sector.
ourselves,” he added. Nilepet has already taken steps in this direction
Nilepet is making progress towards this goal by setting up joint ventures such as SIPET, an
via joint ventures such as Nile Delta, which is engineering and construction firm, with Chi-
49% owned by Niger Delta Exploration and Pro- na’s QDC, and NIYAT, a road construction and
duction (NDEP) of Nigeria, he explained. The maintenance firm, with Eyat-Sudan, he said. It
venture was established to expand and commer- is also looking for a minority investor in the Nile
cialise natural gas production, he noted. Drilling company, he added.
Yugusuk did not say whether Nilepet was This is not Nilepet’s first expression of ambi-
targeting any particular upstream projects, tion. Managing director Chol Deng Thon Abel
but he did state that the NOC was also keen on said recently that the company hoped to assume
downstream oil refining and storage projects, as control over domestic oilfields as contracts
well as domestic petroleum product sales. “[We] with various IOCs expired. The first assets to
want to construct four refineries: one [each] in be handed over to Nilepet are likely to be the
Bentiu, Paloch, Pagak and Thiangrial. All those two blocks held by Dar Petroleum Operating
are producing blocks. We also want to construct Co. (DPOC), whose contract is due to expire in
depots in major towns in South Sudan, which is 2027, he stated. ™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 07•October•2020