Page 14 - AsianOil Week 29 2020

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conducted by the country’s House of Repre- expected recovery in PP prices, rising dividends
sentatives, the group may have made $1.05bn and its organic growth path.
worth of illegal transfers to an account that Moving to the UAE, Fujairah-based storage
can be accessed by NLNG’s managing director operator Brooge Energy said on July 15 it was
and the head of Nigerian National Petroleum near to completing early technical studies for a
Corp. (NNPC). The consortium has denied the phase-three expansion of its facilities. The pro-
allegations. ject involves adding an extra 22mn barrels of oil
storage space and the construction of a 180,000
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping barrel per day (bpd) refinery.
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for Fujairah is a popular hub for storage given
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. its strategic location outside the Strait of Hor-
muz. With storage in high demand following
Downstream MEA: Aramco restructuring the COVID-19 pandemic, Brooge has a strong
Saudi Aramco has unveiled plans to restructure case for pushing ahead with its plans. But first it
its downstream business by the end of this year, wants to fully contract out the extra storage on a
weeks after closing its $69bn takeover of petro- store-or-pay basis.
chemicals giant SABIC.
The move is aimed at improving efficiency, If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
as the Saudi oil giant prepares to expand its fuel the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
and petrochemicals operations internationally. then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
It intends to split the business into four units
responsible for fuels, chemicals, power and pipe- Asia: Indonesia’s production woes
lines. Three corporate functions – manufactur- Europe: Nord Stream 2 faces more pain
ing, strategy and marketing, and affiliates affairs The US has moved closer to imposing
– will support these units. tougher sanctions on Russia’s embattled
Aramco is eager to build out its downstream Nord Stream 2 project. US Secretary of State
division to add value to its resources and reduce Mike Pompeo announced last week that his
its reliance on crude oil sales. The restructur- department would remove an exemption
ing move is also a response to Riyadh’s new tax protecting the pipeline from a US sanctions
regime. If it does not restructure the business, it package introduced in 2017. At the same
will have to pay a much higher rate of corporate time, another sanctions bill is making its
tax. SABIC and several other Aramco subsidiar- way through US Congress.
ies retain separate listings, however, which could There is bipartisan support for additional
complicate the process. sanctions in both legislative houses. Although he
In other news from the kingdom, petrochem- has been reluctant to impose broader sanctions
icals producer Advanced Petrochemical has against Russia in the past, US President Donald
secured a SAR1.5bn ($400mn) credit facility, in Trump has been unambiguous in his opposition
order to finance its expansion projects in Jubail. to Nord Stream 2.
The company is preparing to expand its polypro- However, the consensus is that any new
pylene (PP) output by 750,000 tpy starting in late sanctions will arrive too late to thwart the pro-
2024, at a cost of $1.8bn. ject, which is now all but 6% complete. Russia is
Despite difficult market conditions, expected to resume construction in the coming
Advanced has a firm outlook, Al Rajhi Capital weeks, with two of its own pipelaying vessels cur-
said in a research note last week, pointing to an rently on standby off the German coast.

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