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The Federal Government of Nigeria plans to increase crude oil production from 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 4 million bpd in the fourth quarter of 2018. The multi-billion dollar Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, currently being constructed will add 200,000 bpd to Nigeria’s crude capacity. The Egina deepwater field is located on Oil Mining Lease (OML) 130 offshore. The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Total Upstream Nigeria Limited (TUPNI), Nicolas Terraz, disclosed that the Egina FPSO is on track to sail away from Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) in South Korea within the third quarter of this year and is estimated to arrive in Nigeria before year end. Terraz said the completion of the vessel would be on time and within budget.
The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources stated in the recently approved National Gas Policy that an estimated $10.38 billion could be generated for the economy by 2018 if 50% of the current users of kerosene and firewood switch over to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).This switch would also lead to the creation of over a million skilled jobs in various segments of the LPG supply value chain. Nigeria is the second largest producer of LPG in Africa (after Algeria) in terms of volume; however, consumption of LPG in the country is dismal. Only 5% of Nigeria’s (approximate) 190 million population uses LPG, 60% use firewood, 30% use kerosene, while 5% use coal. The President of the Nigerian Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), Mr. Dayo Adeshina, said that the LPG market in terms of consumption increased in 2016 to 550,000 Metric Tonnes per annum (MTPA) even though the estimated demand is at least 5 million MTPA. Hence, the Government is promoting the usage of LPG for domestic use, power generation, auto-gas and industrial applications to attain the utilization of 5 million MT in five years.
West Africa: Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Equatorial Guinea
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has set the ruling of the Ghana-Ivory Coast border dispute for September 23, 2017. “The Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, constituted to deal with the Dispute concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (Ghana/Côte d’Ivoire), will deliver its Judgment at 11 a.m. on Saturday, 23rd September 2017. The Judgment will be read by Judge Boualem Bouguetaia, resident of the Special Chamber”, ITLOS said in a release. The two countries are seeking a resolution over the dispute at the tribunal after Ivory Coast accused Ghana of using the development of its oil industry to annex a part of its territory that does not belong to it. Ghana opted for the arbitration process at the ITLOS after several talks with Ivory Coast over the matter failed. Ivory Coast requested the ITLOS to direct Ghana to suspend oil exploration in the disputed maritime area until a substantive ruling is given. The court in April 2015, ordered Ghana to suspend all new drilling in the disputed area. The moratorium prevented Tullow from drilling an additional 13 wells (Tullow has drilled 11 wells in Ghana’s first oil field).
Ghanaian president Akufo-Addo paid a state visit to Equatorial Guinea to deepen the cordial bilateral relations between the two countries. Akufo-Addo signed a government-to-government Heads of State Agreement with the Equatorial Guinean government for the supply of LNG from Equatorial Guinea to Ghana. Under the agreement, Equatorial Guinea would supply LNG to Ghana for a period of 15 years, with the deal reviewable every five years to meet the country’s ever growing demand for power. As part of the deal, an LNG regasification terminal will also be built in Takoradi, Ghana.
Global
On Thursday 7th of September, oil prices fell, as fears over Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean could interrupt crude shipments in and out of the United States and as Libyan output began to recover from disruptions. However, prices received some support from rising demand in the United States, where Gulf Coast refineries are restarting post Hurricane Harvey. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for October contract was down 10 cents at $49.06 a barrel at 11:03AM ET (16:03 GMT), while the ICE Futures Exchange in London Brent oil for November delivery gained 7 cents at $54.27 a barrel at 11:08 AM ET (15:08 GMT). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) weekly report for Wednesday 6th September showed a rise in crude oil inventories by 4.6 million barrels in the week ending September 1.
Libya and Nigeria, the two OPEC members exempt from the current oil production cut deal, have been invited to participate in the producer group’s latest ministerial committee meeting taking place in Vienna on 22nd September. OPEC/non-OPEC producers extended a deal to cut 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in supply until March 2018. Thus far, the production cut agreement has had little impact on global inventory levels as U.S. shale output and supply from producers that are exempt from the OPEC deal (Libya and Nigeria) continues to increase.
Picture courtesy: Aveon Offshore, turret integration on Egina OLT buoy at Port Harcourt, Nigeria
