Page 14 - AsianOil Week 33

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long-term forecast for gas exports. Energy Min- fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, a 55,000
ister Abdelmajid Attar had said earlier in the bpd vacuum distillation unit and a 40,000
month that state-controlled Sonatrach expected bpd diesel desulphurisation unit.
the volume of gas sold to foreign buyers was In South Sudan, NOC Nile Petroleum
likely to drop into the 25-30 bcm per year range Corp. (Nilepet) announced that it is nearing
in 2025. More recently, though, he has said that completion on work to rehabilitate the 5,000
exports will not sink below 30 bcm per year until barrel per day Bentiu oil refinery in the coun-
2030. try. Director general of Nilepet’s Downstream
On the other end of the continent, France’s Directorate, James Loteka Yugusuk, said on
Total is gearing up to spud a new well offshore August 14 that completion of the work would
South Africa. It is preparing to send the Deepsea allow South Sudan to reduce fuel imports.
Stavanger rig to Block 11B/12B and will begin
drilling the Luiperd-1 well before the end of If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
August. the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for Tensions escalate in East Med
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. Tensions have been escalating between Greece
and Turkey over drilling in contested waters in
SAMIR soap opera continues the Eastern Mediterranean, with the French gov-
Five years on from its closure, the seemingly end- ernment bolstering France’s military presence in
less case of Morocco’s SAMIR refinery continues the region in recent days.
to drag on, while work on other refining projects This comes after Turkey sent a seismic
throughout MEA appears to be picking up. research vessel, escorted by warships, into waters
Despite bids having been made for the between the Greek island of Crete and Cyprus
SAMIR unit in Mohammedia, it looks likely to explore for potential offshore gas and oil
to be utilised for storage. reserves, spurred by similar discoveries in other
Poor management has been cited as the parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece
reason for the refinery’s failure, with legal claims that part of the area falls within its own
cases played out very publicly. Meanwhile, continental shelf and has demanded that the
Russian bank VEB is in talks to construct a ships withdraw, but Turkey insists that it is enti-
new refinery that would presumably replace tled to conduct research in those waters.
SAMIR, though optimism should be tem- On August 17, Turkey’s state-owned TPAO
pered given that this appears to be a case of extended the drilling schedule for its Yavuz
history repeating. drillship offshore Cyprus to mid-September in
Japan’s JGC announced last week that a move that appears set to ramp up tensions in
it had been awarded a $3.75bn contract to the region further. Turkey has previously drilled
build new refining facilities on land adja- wells in waters claimed by Cyprus. Yavuz is cur-
cent to the existing 210,000 barrel per day rently one of two Turkish drillships in the East-
(bpd) Shuaiba refinery outside Basra in ern Mediterranean, and a third is reported to be
southern Iraq. The company said that it coming to the region soon.
had received a lump sum engineering, pro- European Union (EU) foreign ministers have
curement, construction and commission- held urgent talks on the matter, with Turkey indi-
ing (EPCC) contract covering a 34,500 bpd cating a willingness to enter a dialogue with the

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