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company hopes to establish Jinja as a hub for fuel series of delays, the company is yet to provide a
traders serving other countries in the region, definitive timeframe for the project’s completion
including South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi, and commissioning.
as well as the eastern regions of the Democratic
Republic of Congo. (DRC). If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. Europe continues stocking up on gas
The US has moved closer to imposing tougher
DMEA: Aramco bulk-buys chem tankers sanctions on Russia’s embattled Nord Stream
Saudi Aramco’s shipping unit Bahri has ordered 2 project. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
10 chemical tankers from South Korea’s Hyun- announced last week that his department would
dai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in a deal worth remove an exemption protecting the pipeline
$410mn. The first of the 50,000 DWT, medi- from a US sanctions package introduced in 2017.
um-range tankers will be delivered in the first At the same time, another sanctions bill is mak-
quarter of 2022. Their addition will bring Bahri’s ing its way through US Congress.
total vessel count to 101. Europe’s gas storage facilities were almost
The expansion of Aramco’s fleet is part of the 90% full on August 18, data published by Gas
Saudi Vision 2030 national strategy, aimed at Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows, marking an
diversifying the country’s economy away from unusual high for the time of year.
crude oil sales. Bahri had sought to make a foray Europe has seen an unprecedented build-up
into LNG shipping by chartering vessels to carry in gas storage volumes over the past year, and
US LNG, but this plan was shelved after the oil the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan-
price collapse. demic on demand is just one reason. The con-
In neighbouring Kuwait, state-owned KNPC tinent’s LNG imports soared in 2019, as higher
has reached a milestone at its Clean Fuels Project production capacity in the US and elsewhere
(CFP), which involves upgrading its refineries drove down prices. This encouraged increased
to produce Euro-5 standard fuels. Texas-based consumption, but also gave traders an incentive
Fluor said its joint venture with South Korean to store more volumes.
firms Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Towards the end of last year companies
Hyundai Heavy Industries, FDH JV, had com- also expanded their stocks in anticipation of a
pleted the provisional handover of installations potential disruption to Russian gas supplies via
at the Mina Abdullah refinery to KNPC. Ukraine. This disruption was averted as Moscow
The 270,000 barrel per day Mina Abdullah and Kyiv were able to agree an 11th-hour deal
and 466,000 bpd Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries are covering continued transit in 2020. Besides the
both undergoing modernisation and expansion. pandemic, milder weather earlier this year also
Once the work is completed, their combined weighed down on demand.
throughput capacity will reach 800,000 bpd. UK producer Premier Oil unveiled a plan
KNPC is also building a 615,000 bpd grassroots last week to settle some of its debts and alle-
plant, Al-Zour, as part of the CFP. But after a viate shareholder concerns about the state of

Week 34 27•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15