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DMEA POLICY & SECURITY DMEA
Suspected jihadists again attack gas-rich Mozambique province
AFRICA
SUSPECTED jihadists have once again attacked villages in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province of northern Mozambique, killing at least three people.
Local media sat armed men raided villages and torched homes in the districts of Muidumbe and Mocímboa da Praia province over the week- end. Many residents were forced to flee to nearby villages just weeks after having returned to their homesteads after previous attacks.
Mozambique has an estimated 180 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves. The bulk of it has so far been discovered in offshore Rovuma Basin in Cabo Delgado, one of the country’s most volatile regions. An intense conflict began in the region in October 2017, which has resulted in some 800,000 people fleeing from their homes.
A consortium led by Eni (Italy) has started loading gas at its floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility in the area. It was set to start
sending cargoes to the sole off-taker, BP, by the end of August.
Southern African leaders in mid-July extended the mandate of a regional force they had deployed in Mozambique in 2021 to help local troops fight against Islamist insurgents north of that country.
The recent attacks in Muidumbe and Mocím- boa da Praia occurred despite the heavy deploy- ment of government soldiers in the area, backed by troops from Rwanda and the regional bloc Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Insurgents have demanded greater regional autonomy and economic benefits from natural resources that abound in the region. Flashpoints of violence have shifted geographically, and people have begun to return to places that were previously under attack or under the control of non-state armed groups.™
Sasol buoyed by high crude oil prices
AFRICA
SASOL, a South Africa-headquartered global energy and chemicals group, has released a financial update for the year ended on June 30 that highlights an outstanding performance.
Sasol produces and markets a range of high-quality products including liquid fuels, piped natural gas and chemicals in 22 coun- tries across the world. The performance was underpinned by a favourable macroeconomic environment, higher crude oil prices, refining margins and chemicals prices amid a backdrop of heightened geopolitical tensions.
“This resulted in a strong gross margin improvement from the prior year, combined with robust cost and capital expenditure perfor- mance,” the Johannesburg- and New York-listed company said it said in a release on August 4.
“These benefits were partly offset by opera- tional challenges in our integrated South African value chains which resulted in lower production, as reported in the annual business performance metrics published on [July 25].”
According to the statement, Sasol’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation (EBITDA) for the 2022 financial year are expected to increase by between 36% and 56% from about $2.9bn in the prior year, to between $3.9bn and $4.5bn.
“This is mostly due to a strong recovery in Brent crude oil and chemical prices, partly offset by realised oil hedging losses and lower chemi- cals sales volumes,” Sasol said.
Last week, Sasol and French partner TotalEn- ergies announced that they have restarted their joint venture (JV) at Sasolburg following the resumption of feedstock deliveries.
Delayed crude oil deliveries caused the JV to close the 107,000 barrel per day (bpd) National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref ) unit, which is one of only two operational refin- eries in the country, with closures following the announcement of the Clean Fuels 2 (CF2) legislation, which will mandate the use of ultra- low-sulphur gasoline and diesel products when it comes into effect.
Sasol told Bloomberg that while the plant remains under force majeure, it is back “online and production ramp-up is in progress”.™
COMPANIES
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