Page 12 - AfrOil Week 28 2020

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil
Under the contract, the Houston-based ser- vice provider will provide detailed engineering and design services for the inside battery limits (ISBL) component of a modular re nery. Addi- tionally, it will engineer and design all of the tagged items within the ISBL section.
McDermott said in a statement that it intended to carry out all engineering and design work on the project at its o ces in Mexico City and Tyler, Texas. It also reported that it would be turning to both US and international suppli- ers to acquire the necessary equipment for the re nery, which will have a throughput capacity of 12,000 barrels per day (bpd).
e US company put the value of the deal with Azikel at $50-250mn but did not provide a speci c gure. It did note, though, that it had already performed other services for the Nige- rian company on the same project, including but not limited to construction of crude oil feedstock tanks; site preparation works, such as back lling and site reclamation; and installation of infrastructure facilities, such as roads, drain- age, security gates and a perimeter wall.
e most recent contract between the par- ties called for McDermott to provide extended front-end engineering design (FEED) services for the re nery. In the meantime, the service provider is also in the process of building sev- eral facilities that will support the plant’s opera- tion, including terminal operator, maintenance and administrative buildings. Additionally, it is constructing a 656-foot (200-metre) pier with shoreline protection that will accommo- date deliveries of re nery modules and other
equipment at the site in Obunagha-Gbara, a town in the Yenagoa area of Bayelsa State.
Azikel had originally hoped to bring the modular re nery on stream in 2018. However, it fell behind schedule and cancelled a contract with Houston-based Ventech for delivery of the ISBL section.
When nished, the plant will be able to turn out LPG, gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene and residual fuel oil. It will have a crude distillation unit as well as several secondary processing facilities – namely, a catalytic reformer, diesel hydrotreater, gasoline stabiliser, naphtha hydro- treater and naphtha splitter.
e facility is slated to process Bonny Light crude oil and gas condensate. It will receive feedstock from an adjacent gas-gathering facil- ity operated by Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Nether- lands.) ™
The refinery is being built at a site in Bayelsa state (Photo: Azikel Petroleum)
PERFORMANCE
Libya’s oil sector suffers setback as LNA renews blockade
LIBYA
LIBYA’S National Oil Corp. (NOC) has had to backtrack on plans for resuming commercial oil production, owing to the renewal of a blockade by troops aligned with Khalifa Ha ar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).
NOC had announced on July 10 that it was in a position to li the declaration of force majeure on all crude exports. In a statement, the com- pany said it was on track to begin exporting oil again and that it had begun loading its rst cargo onto the Kriti Bastion, a Liberian- agged tanker owned by Arcadia Shipmanagement (Greece) and chartered by Vitol (Netherlands), at the Es Sider coastal terminal.
en on July 12, NOC reported that Ha ar’s forces had ordered a halt to the loading. is move was at odds with the LNA’s “co-operative
posture” in previous negotiations with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), the company noted.
NOC also said it had received information indicating that Ha ar and his allies had been acting on instructions received from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“[The Russian paramilitary organisation] Wagner and Syrian mercenaries now occupy [the] Es Sider oil port, and Wagner and Suda- nese mercenaries are camped within the vicin- ity of the Sharara oil eld, preventing Libyan oil from owing,” it said.
e statement also quoted NOC chairman Mustafa Sanalla as saying that he wanted all foreign mercenaries to leave Libya and all third parties interfering in the country to withdraw.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 28 15•July•2020