Page 7 - AfrOil Week 30

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The well, which is located 2 km from Ken Bau Worley Parsons, Fluor and KBC, the UK’s Amec
1X, encountered more than 110 metres of pay Foster Wheeler, Japan’s Toyo and France’s Tech-
in several intervals of Miocene sandstones inter- nip have all been pre-qualified for the contract,
bedded with shale. which relates to various upgrade projects.
Eni, after conducting two mini drill stem Kuwait is modernising its al-Ahmadi and
tests (DSTs) and acquiring fluid samples, esti- Abdullah refineries and constructing a new
mates the Ken Bau accumulation holds 7-9 tril- one in the southern port of al-Zour. Its goal is
lion cubic feet (198.24bn cubic metres) of gas to double its throughput capacity to 1.6mn bpd
in place and 400-500mn barrels of associated by 2025.
condensate. Meanwhile in neighbouring Saudi Arabia,
Last July, Eni said Ken Bau 1X had also the UAE’s Target Engineering has landed a con-
encountered several intervals of gas and con- tract worth $53.3mn to replace naphtha and slop The African
densate sandstone interbedded with Miocene oil storage tanks at Saudi Aramco’s 550,000 bpd asset manager
age shale. It estimated at the time that the net Ras Tanura oil refinery.
reservoir was more than 100 metres thick. The While Middle Eastern operators continue to FBNQuest
first well, drilled to a total depth of 3,606 metres, dish out contracts, many downstream projects
was plugged and abandoned before it reached its in the region are now running behind schedule sees Nigeria’s
targeted depth owing to technical issues. because of travel restrictions put in place to slow
The Italian developer said it would plug and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. downstream
abandon the well. In addition to plans for addi- Over in Nigeria, African asset manager FBN- prospect
tional drilling and testing on the discovery, Eni Quest sees downstream prospects improving
said it also intends to conduct new drilling and thanks to recent reforms to fuel pricing. Earlier improving
seismic activity in the wider basin, where it owns this year the government introduced a more
a 100% operated interest in the neighbouring market-based template for gasoline pricing,
Block 116. and the central bank is working to unify foreign
Eni has a 50% operated stake in Block 114, exchange rates. FBNQuest believes these steps
which is located in the Song Hong Basin, while could lead to full market deregulation, which
ESSAR E&P holds the remaining interest. would encourage investment in refining and
Commenting on marketing options, Eni fuel supply.
said Vietnam’s gas market had expanded rap- Nigeria’s fuel retail segment is already seeing
idly thanks to consistent GDP growth and the increased competition, with players Ardova and
development of gas-fired thermal power plants 11 Plc replacing France’s Total as the top suppli-
(TPPs). The company said the Ken Bau discov- ers. Competition should intensify further if lib-
ery could potentially provide a fast-track solu- eralised prices are here to stay.
tion to meet the increasing energy demand.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping the downstream sector of Africa and the Middle East,
Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for then please click here for NewsBase’s DMEA Monitor.
NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.
Europe prepares for the revolution
DMEA: refining contracts, pricing reforms Europe is preparing for a potential hydrogen rev-
Six international contractors are vying for tech- olution, with governments and businesses both
nical consultancy work at Kuwait’s al-Ahmadi looking at the fuel’s role as a future energy source
oil refinery, according to local press. US firms more seriously than ever before.

Week 30 29•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7