Page 15 - AfrOil Week 47

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Both Michel and Sanalla were referring to Lib- industry for several decades and is a share-
ya’s recent success in bringing oil production holder in Sharara, the country’s largest oilfield.
levels up by more than 1mn barrels per day in It also holds equity stakes in a number of other
less than two months. fields, including the offshore Al-Jurf site and the
NOC saw output drop precipitously in the onshore Mabruk site, which has remained idle
first few months of this year, sinking from more in recent years. ™
than 900,000 bpd as of early January to less than
100,000 bpd just a few months later. The decline
occurred after militias loyal to Khalifa Haftar’s
Libyan National Army (LNA) mounted a block-
ade of key production, transport and processing
infrastructure.
Yields were still averaging below 100,000
bpd as of mid-September, when LNA began a
new round of peace talks with the UN-backed
Government of National Accord (GNA), based
in Tripoli. However, the ceasefire that accom-
panied those talks allowed NOC to brings its
fields, pipelines, refineries and terminals back
on stream. As a result, production had climbed
back to 1.25mn bpd as of last week.
Total has been active in Libya’s petroleum The French major has been active in Libya for several decades (Image: Total)

Waltersmith commissions modular

oil refinery in Nigeria’s Imo State

NIGERIA WALTERSMITH Petroman Oil, a private Nige- up to 60,000 barrels, and it will turn out diesel
rian company, commissioned the first phase fuel, kerosene, naphtha and residual fuel oil for
of the new modular refinery it has built at the domestic consumption. Waltersmith hopes
Ibigwe oilfield in Imo State on November 24. eventually to raise the plant’s throughput capac-
According to local press reports, Walter- ity to 50,000 bpd, and the November 24 cere-
smith held a virtual ceremony marking the mony also marked the breaking of ground for
commissioning on November 24. Nigerian the expansion project.
President Muhammadu Buhari attended the Before the commissioning ceremony,
ceremony online, along with Timipre Sylva, the the company’s chairman, Abdulrazaq Isah,
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and explained that two more units were slated for
Hope Udozinma, a senator who also serves as construction at the refinery. “The first module
Governor of Imo State. being commissioned today is 5,000 barrels per
Buhari praised the company for its achieve- day refining capacity. We are looking at 50,000
ment, noting that the plant had been con- bpd refining capacity, [and] that will come with
structed in less than 24 months. He also stated the planned additional two modules – 25,000
that the refinery would be able to reduce the bpd and 20,000 bpd refining capacity respec-
country’s dependence on imports by making tively – which will then add [gasoline], aviation
larger volumes of petroleum products available fuel and LPG to the product slates,” he said. ™
in south-east Nigeria.
Chikezie Nwosu, Waltersmith’s CEO,
recently declared that his company was optimis-
tic about regional demand for the new refinery’s
production. “Our focus on putting a refinery
in Ibigwe, south-east Nigeria, is built on our
knowledge about the commercial strength of
our area of operation ... To demonstrate that we
were right, we already have oversubscription of
our products – not spot sales, but people who
have shown interest to take our products,” he
was quoted as saying by This Day.
Waltersmith recently finished building the
first phase of the refinery. This unit can process
5,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and store The first phase of the plant can process 5,000 bpd (Photo: Waltersmith)

Week 47 25•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15