A fire broke out at the Baytown refinery operated by Exxon in Texas, USA on Thursday, injuring four people.
Law enforcement has called the fire a major industrial incident, the Wall Street Journal reported.
No fatalities were reported at the 561,000-bpd complex.
“ExxonMobil’s emergency response teams continue to work to extinguish the fire that occurred in a hydro desulfurization unit at our Baytown Refinery this morning around 1 a.m. Central Time,” the supermajor said in a statement emailed to the WSJ.
“We are saddened to inform that four people were injured and are receiving medical treatment. All other personnel have been accounted for.”
“Our first priority is people in the community and in our facilities. Air monitoring continues along the fence line. Available information shows no adverse impact at this time,” the company’s Baytown division said in a statement, as quoted by the WSJ.
NBC quoted the Harris County Sheriff’s Office as saying that deputies were responding to the incident and that residents were advised to avoid the area of the refinery.
However, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, there was for now no need to evacuate the area or issue a shelter-in-place order.
A manager at the Baytown refinery, Rohan Davies, said, as quoted by NBC, that all four injured people were transported from the site to hospital and all were in stable condition.
While the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said the fire appeared to be the result of an explosion, Davies said that “At this time, we’re still collecting all that information,” adding: “We will conduct a full and thorough investigation.”
A CBS affiliate station reported that the fire had erupted in the part of the refinery that produces gasoline but the rest of the complex was operating. According to the WSJ report, the fire had broken out at the petrochemical part of the complex, which produces plastics.
Source: Oilprice.com
Some 19 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in the Republic of Ghana have been suspended pending revocation of their operational licence by 31st December 2021, National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has revealed.
The petroleum downstream regulator has vowed to crack the whip to ensure that only OMCs which have the capacity and meet the required seven service stations are the ones operating in the country.
Ghana has about 229 registered Oil Marketing Companies with over 2900 fuel retail outlets across the country.
This figure is seen by some industry watchers as huge considering the country’s population and land size.
Speaking to a section of the Ghanaian media last Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer of NPA, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said his outfit would not tolerate OMCs that are holding licences but are not doing anything.
Touching briefly on the letters issued to the 19 OMCs, Dr Abdul-Hamid said he asked them to demonstrate the capacity to hold their licence by 31 December 2021.
He said the Authority would revoke the licence if they failed to demonstrate the capacity to hold the licence.
Since 2018, NPA has revoked the licence of nine Bulk Distribution Companies (BDC), one OMC licence, one bunkering company licence, one lube blending company licence and one tank cleaning licence.
The Management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) Plc in the Republic of Nigeria has assured its customers across the network of its unrelenting commitment to ensuring hitch-free services during the Christmas holidays.
While wishing all its customers and Nigerians a merry Christmas and a happy New Year in advance on behalf of the company, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Engr. John Ayodele explained that the company has mapped out effective strategies to ensure that all their customers enjoy uninterrupted services during the celebrations and beyond as much as is within the control of IBEDC.
He stated that measures have been put in place to ensure network stability and smooth operations during the Christmas holidays.
“Our technical crew will work throughout to rectify electrical faults so that customers can enjoy the holidays,” he said.
Engr. Ayodele, who urged all Nigerians to demonstrate the virtue of love which symbolizes Christmas, also appealed to consumers to ensure prompt payment of their electricity bills and adequate vending to avoid disconnection or disruption of service during the holidays.
He urged customers to take advantage of the Hassle-free payment platforms- Fetswallet, Mcash, transact, Watu, Payarena, Jumia and ibedc.com to pay their electricity bills promptly and vend to enjoy uninterrupted power supply.“Our offices are also open during the holiday from 9 am-3 pm to attend to customers for enquiries, complaints, bill payments and vending. Customers can reach us via our Customer care line 07001239999 or email us at [email protected],” he added
While wishing all Nigerians a memorable celebration, Engr. Ayodele admonished them to be safety conscious.
“I plead with us to observe and adhere to all the COVID-19 safety protocols of hand washing, use of face masks and physical distancing as recommended by Nigerian Centre Disease Control (NCDC).”
He advised that it is also important that other safety precautions such as proper supervision of children to prevent electrical accidents, not cooking or trading under a high-tension wire and not engaging quacks to fix faults are strictly observed.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) in Tema Region in the Republic of Ghana has assured customers of uninterrupted power supply during this yuletide.
This was expressed by the General Manager, Ing. Emmanuel Akinie during a brief discussion with some journalists in his office.
He explained that his outfit has suspended all planned maintenance exercises because of the Christmas festivities.
Despite the assurance, he said other issues as faults could trigger outages but said, “We must restore supply to customers once we get to know about them.
“We urge customers to please let us know as soon as they have an outage because the region’s technical faults teams will be readily available for faults interventions despite the holidays.”
The Tema General Manager also emphasised that power outages may be a result of instances where some unscrupulous people vandalise transformers and steal fuses.
He said in such situations, “Our feeders or transmission lines will be supplying power all right but because of the damages, the customer-end will be without power supply.”
On this, he called on their customers and the general public to be on the lookout and stop anyone whom they find working on an ECG installation but is unable to produce an authorised ID card to support their activities.
The Tema Region ECG has had issues relating to transformer vandalism and fuse theft which has become so rampant that, in October 2021 alone, the Tema South District lost 192 fuses.
On the transformers, Ing. Akinie said that “the loss of transformers cause inconvenience to both customers and the company. Customers do not get supplies as they should and the company has to spend resources earmarked for other activities to procure and replace transformers.”
Ing. Emmanuel Akinie, on behalf of Management and staff of the Region, wished all their customers of ECG Merry Christmas.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Angolan Minister for Petroleum Resources, H.E. Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, has been appointed as President of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO).
He was unanimously elected by the Council of Ministers during the 41st Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers held in Algeria recently.
The Council also elected H.E. Samoa Seidou Adam, Minister for Water and Mines of Benin, as Vice President for the year 2022.
Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers approved Mr Celestin Enanto, Executive Board Member for Benin, and Mr Jean Jacques Koum, Executive Board Member for Cameroon, respectively as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board for the year 2022.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
A member of the Public Relations and External Affairs Department of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Deborah Bonney, has graduated from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) with a Masters Degree in International Relations and Diplomacy.
Mrs Bonney, who has worked with the PURC for the past ten years and is also an Accredited Member of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Ghana, was awarded the ‘Lord Mawuko-Yevugah Distinguished Leadership Award in International Relations and Public Diplomacy’ for distinguishing herself as a Public Relations Professional with high innovative leadership skills at GIMPA’s 21st graduation ceremony that happened at the weekend.
Mrs Bonney received the award alongside Frank Annoh Dompreh, MP for Nsawam Adoargyiri and the Majority Chief Whip of the governing NPP, and Eunice Tony of eTV Ghana.
She was the course representative for the 2019-2021 class.
The award was in recognition of her excellent skills in International Relations and Leadership exhibited within the public space with high innovative leadership skills as a Public Relations Professional.
Commenting on the award, Mrs Deborah Bonney dedicated the award to her family and the entire class for supporting her in every way.
Eunice Tonyi (Left) and Mrs Deborah Bonney (Right)
The Republic of Benin, Niger Republic and Togo have failed to pay for electricity supplied to them by Nigeria in the second quarter of 2021, a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has revealed.
The NERC, in its Second Quarter Report 2021, stated that the power firms of the three nations and some other special customers were issued a total bill of N770m by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company and the Market Operator of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
It, however, noted that nothing was paid by the neighbouring countries and other special customers for the power supplied to them from Nigeria during the period.
The neighbouring countries’ power firms include Societe Nigerienne electricity – NIGELEC, in the Niger Republic; Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique–SBEE, in the Benin Republic; and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo– CEET, in the Togo Republic.
“During the quarter under review, NBET and MO issued a total of N0.77 billion in respect of energy sold by NBET and services rendered by MO to the special (Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and other bilateral customers) and international customers (Societe Nigerienne electricity–NIGELEC, Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique–SBEE and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo– CEET).
“No payment was made by these customers during the quarter under review. It is hoped that as the economy of these customers improves post-COVID-19 lockdown so that they will resume the settlement of their bills in full,’’ the Report said as carried by Punch.
Regarding the performance of distribution companies in Nigeria concerning the payment of electricity sold to them by the NBET, the power sector regulator stated that the firms did not pay up all their bills.
“During the second quarter of 2021, a total invoice of N259.7bn was issued to the eleven Discos for energy received from the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and for service charge by MO, out of which a sum of N130.11bn was settled, representing remittance performance of 50.11 per cent.
“This represents a 1.78 percentage point decrease from the final settlement rate recorded in the first quarter of 2021.”
The NERC stated that apart from Eko Disco, none of the other Discos met their expected minimum remittance thresholds to NBET in the quarter under review.
It stated that overall, the total Disco remittance to NBET was 76 per cent of the expected total for the quarter, as the average aggregate remittance performances to MO and NBET decreased by 1.78 percentage points from 51.88 per cent in the first quarter 2021 to 50.1 per cent in the second quarter.
“Discos remittance performance level ranged from 10.51 per cent (Yola) to 63.69 per cent (Eko) for NBET and 28.76 per cent (Yola) to 99.88 per cent (Eko) for MO,” the NERC stated.
It added, “Ikeja recorded zero remittance to MO in May and June 2021 as they wait to resolve Service Level Agreement dispute.”
On commercial performance, the report stated that the total billing to and collection from electricity consumers by all the 11 Discos stood at N268.97 billion and N185.29 billion respectively during the quarter under review, implying a collection efficiency of 68.89 per cent.
It said the level of collection efficiency indicated that as much as N3.11 out of every N10 worth of energy sold during the second quarter of 2021 remained uncollected from consumers.
“Thus, only a marginal improvement in the collection efficiency is noticeable over the 68.55 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2021,” the NERC stated.
Kenya Power has assured its customers that the frequent power outages being experienced in the country will be permanently dealt with within the next two months.
“In the last four months, we have had a sharp decline in the blackouts and soon enough they will be brought to nil,” Energy Chief Administrative Secretary, Zachary Ayieko said at Dr Babla School in Kwale where he launched a stand-alone Solar Home Systems and clean cooking solutions for households.
According to him, the government is determined to stabilize the power supply and minimize blackouts, noting that interventions so far put in place have seen power outages drop by 50 per cent.
Mr Ayieko said measures are already in place for prompt rectification of faults, replacement of fallen and decayed poles and enhanced responses to emergencies to ensure constant power supply.
He said Kenya Power has been sufficiently funded to deal with electricity supply challenges on time.
He explained that a reliable power supply is a key to Kenya’s economic growth.
“Dependable power connectivity is a win-win for both KPLC and consumers hence massive development,” he said.
“The CAS said electricity plays a crucial role and affects various communication, industrialization and business activities,” he said.
“Fewer outages mean active businesses and more money,” he added.
Mr Ayieko said energy remains to be one of the key enablers of Kenya’s Vision 2030 and the ‘Big Four Agenda’ which includes manufacturing as a key pillar.”
He said Kenya has made tremendous efforts in providing clean, reliable and affordable electricity, adding that Kenya currently enjoys 75 per cent electricity connectivity.
He said the target is to achieve 100 per cent connectivity by 2026 with the focus being on marginalized counties where connectivity is still low.
He said through the Kenya Off-grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP), the government targets to reach 459,821 households accounting for 2.4 million people while another 55,671 households will receive electricity through solar power.
KOSAP, a national government flagship project aims at expanding electricity connectivity and clean cooking solutions in the off-grid, low density and traditionally underserved areas of the country.
It is currently focused on Turkana, West Pokot, Kwale, Isiolo, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Tana River, Lamu, Kilifi, Narok, Marsabit, Samburu and Lamu counties.
The Sh15 billion project is funded by the World Bank, in partnership with the national government.
Mr Ayieko said the promotion of clean energy would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contributes to environmental pollution.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Generators powered by petrol, diesel and gas provide 48.6 per cent of the electricity consumed by power users across the country, according to the latest data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.
A document by the NBS on Power Sector Data Preview, which was presented to the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently, showed that almost half of the country’s electricity supply was from generators.
The report further showed that the national grid was providing 51.2 per cent of the country’s power needs, indicating that many citizens in Nigeria depend on generators for electricity.
The NBS document showed that petrol-powered generators accounted for the bulk (22.6 per cent) of the electricity supplied by generators.
This was followed by diesel-powered generators, 16.6 per cent, while gas-powered generators accounted for 9.4 per cent of the self-generated electricity.
The bureau said out of 51.2 per cent of electricity provided by the country’s power grid, gas-powered plants accounted for 39.5 per cent, while hydroelectric plants were providing 11.7 per cent.
Off-grid renewables, according to the NBS, accounted for 0.1 per cent of the power consumed nationwide.
Commenting on the poor performance of the power sector despite being privatised more than eight years ago, the President, Nigerian Institution of Power Engineers, Israel Abraham, said the expectations of citizens in the privatised industry had not been met.
He disclosed this in a presentation sent to the ACCI, titled, “Nigerian power sector reform: Implementation, challenges and way forward.”
Abraham said, “In its efforts to improve the power supply situation in the country, the government opted for the reforms and eventual privatisation of the sector to attract private sector finance, technical and administrative expertise.”
“However, the government and citizens’ expectations have not been fully realised many years after the exercise.”
He explained that the commercialisation and corporatisation of the sector, being the most critical stage in the reform implementation where bold and realistic decisions ought to have been taken, was skipped entirely in the implementation process.
Abraham said, “It is at this stage that private sector initiatives, such as transparency and corporate governance frameworks are introduced into the industry that will attract capital inflow to improve operational efficiencies, reducing technical and non-technical losses.
“Unfortunately, this critical stage was skipped entirely in our implementation process.”
On the way forward, the NIPE president said there was a need to strengthen institutions such as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, System Operator and Market Operator established to drive the reform implementation process.
He said, “Unbundle the Transmission Company of Nigeria into its component units, Transmission Service Provider, Market Operator and System Operator to instill confidence in the market. Ensure full implementation of the ruling documents (Acts, Market Rules and Grid Code) to bring discipline in the market.
“Government to reduce to the barest minimum political interference in the operation of the industry regulator -NERC, for it to be truly independent and that will instill confidence in new investors.”
Source: Punch
Oil marketing companies in India have yet again kept the prices of diesel and petrol unchanged across major cities on Monday.
Notably, fuel prices have been steady for the past 45 days.
Accordingly, diesel and petrol prices in Delhi stood at Rs 86.67 ( $1.14) per litre and Rs 95.41 ($1.26) per litre, respectively.
In the financial capital Mumbai, the rates were unchanged at Rs 94.14 and Rs 109.98.
Prices also remained static in Kolkata at Rs 89.79 and Rs 104.67.
In Chennai too, they remained untouched at Rs 91.43 and Rs 101.40.
Across the country as well, the price of the fuel remained largely unchanged on Monday but the retail rates varied depending on the level of local level taxes.
Électricité de France S.A., commonly known as EDF, a French electric utility company primarily owned by the state, has shut down two nuclear power plants after routine safety inspections found cracks at one power plant.
EDF wrote in a press release,”preventive maintenance checks on the primary circuit of reactor number 1 of the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant” found cracks due to corrosion on the pipes.
“Checks initiated on the same equipment of reactor number 2 of the Civaux Nuclear Power Plant revealed similar defects,” the French power giant said.
France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) was informed about cracks detected close to the welds on the reactor’s pipes.EDF temporarily closed Civaux to “replace the affected parts on the two Civaux reactors, the work being governed by a technical instruction prepared in cooperation with the ASN, which leads to extend the shutdown of the two reactors,” it said.
EDF has also chosen to close two reactors at another nuclear plant at Chooz in the northeastern Ardennes department for inspections. Both power plants use the same reactor technology.
The temporarily closing of Civaux’s reactors and Chooz’s reactors will reduce one terawatt-hour of output and couldn’t come at the worst time as cooler weather sent French power contracts to a record high earlier this week.
A power reduction could suggest strain on the power grid amid cooler weather and higher power prices.
Source: Zerohedge.com
Ghana has inaugurated National Energy Transition Committee to develop a national policy document on steps the country would take to withstand the impact of the global energy transition.
The committee, chaired by Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Deputy Minister for Energy, has its membership drawn from the Ministry of Energy, its agencies such as the Energy Commission, National Petroleum Authority, Ghana Gas Company Ltd as well as the Ministries of Finance, Transport, Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD).
The committee’s terms of reference are:
-To assess the current situation in the energy sector and the effectiveness of existing policies and measures;
– To determine national objectives and targets for the transition;
– To prescribe policies and measures for achieving these targets;
-To assess the benefits, risks and cost of the global energy transition and prescribe risks mitigation measures;
-To identify any cross-cutting issues that must be addressed.
The first draft of the committee’s plan is to be delivered within the first quarter of 2022, with the final submission date to be determined upon submission of its work plan and situational analysis.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Michael Creg Afful, the editor of energynewsafrica.com, an online portal dedicated to Africa’s energy sector, has graduated from the African University College of Communications (AUCC ) with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication studies.
He majored in Strategic Communication.
He has 14 years of experience in journalism.
He began his media carrier as a freelancer and later worked with Accra-based Oman FM for ten years.
He resigned from the station in 2019 to pursue his ambition in the energy sector.
Michael Creg Afful won the Energy Reporter of the Year 2018 and 2019 at an event organised by Energy Media Group.
In 2019, he was adjudged the Best Energy reporter by the Tema Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association at their maiden regional awards.
Through his energynewsafrica.com portal, Creg Afful has built a network of people within the energy industry in Ghana, Africa and beyond.
Aside from practising journalism, Creg Afful also pastor’s International Central Gospel Church Freedom Assembly branch at Gbetsile in the Kpone-Katamanso Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
Ghana’s leading indigenous oil marketing companies, GOIL Company Ltd and TotalEnergies, have reduced fuel prices at their pumps.
While GOIL has reduced its pump price from GH¢6.70 to GH¢6.60, TotalEnergies adjusted their pump price from GH¢6.80 per litre to GH¢6.65 for both diesel and petrol.
This comes after International Crude Oil prices witnessed some marginal fall in recent times.
Both Institute for Energy Security and Chamber of Petroleum Consumer Ghana had predicted a reduction in fuel prices at the local market for the second pricing window, following a fall in crude oil prices on the international market.
In a statement issued by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumer (COPEC), the chamber anticipates an average of 5.34 per cent reduction of ex-pump prices for petrol and diesel from a maximum indicative price of GHS6.860/L to GHS6.513 in the 2nd window beginning 16th December 2021.
COPEC’s pricing model analysis is shown in Tables 1 and 2 below:
On their part, COPEC said: “With the 0.98 per cent increase in the price of the International Benchmark-Brent crude, together with the 11.68 per cent decrease in gasoline price, the 8.64 per cent decrease in gasoil price; the Institute for Energy Security (IES) projects for a 3-5 per cent downward adjustment in the price of fuel per litre at the various pumps despite the marginal depreciation of the cedi of 1 per cent,” it said in a statement.
It, however, said: “Concerns about pandemic [Covid-19] weighed on oil prices during the recently closed trading window, following reports that the omicron variant was set to hurt oil consumption. “These findings are despite reports that the variety in question causes far fewer symptoms among those infected than previous varieties.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
On their part, COPEC said: “With the 0.98 per cent increase in the price of the International Benchmark-Brent crude, together with the 11.68 per cent decrease in gasoline price, the 8.64 per cent decrease in gasoil price; the Institute for Energy Security (IES) projects for a 3-5 per cent downward adjustment in the price of fuel per litre at the various pumps despite the marginal depreciation of the cedi of 1 per cent,” it said in a statement.
It, however, said: “Concerns about pandemic [Covid-19] weighed on oil prices during the recently closed trading window, following reports that the omicron variant was set to hurt oil consumption. “These findings are despite reports that the variety in question causes far fewer symptoms among those infected than previous varieties.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com