The recent fires involving moving fuel tankers in parts of the Republic of Ghana have become a source of worry to petroleum haulage companies in the West African nation.
While this trend has had a serious toll on finances of transporters, and even posing threats to other road users in the nation, it is quite clear that the fires involving moving fuel tankers are a new phenomenon which the regulators should be interested and looked into.
On June 1, energynewsafrica.com reported of a fuel tanker with registration number GT 4863-11 on flames at Gomoa Buduatta on the Kasoa-Winneba stretch of the Accra-Cape Coast Highway in the Central Region. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Michael Creg Afful (left), editor of energynewsafrica.com and Mr. Joseph Kweku Horgle (right), CEO of JK Horgle Transport & Company Ltd
Then, on 24 July there was another fuel tanker engulfed in flames in front of the Mampong-Akwapim Presbyterian SHS.
Interestingly, the following day, July 25, another fuel tanker caught fire at Anloga Junction Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
These recent disasters prompted energynewsafrica.com’s editor, Michael Creg Afful to engage Joseph Kweku Horgle, CEO of JK Horgle Transport and Company Ltd, whose company has lost two tankers to fires.
Click on the video below to watch the full interview:
Halliburton has introduced Cerebro Force in-bit sensors, a first-of-its-kind technology that captures weight, torque and bending measurements directly from the bit to improve understanding of downhole environments, optimize bit design and increase drilling efficiency.
Built on Halliburton’s successful in-bit vibration sensing platform, Cerebro Force utilizes downhole data to reduce or eliminate surface measurement uncertainty and inefficiencies caused by bit design, bottomhole assembly and drilling parameter selection.
Through the Design at the Customer Interface (DatCI) process, Halliburton’s local network of drill bit experts, collaborate with operators to customize bits for basin-specific applications, and will use data from Cerebro Force to inform new designs and optimize parameters for efficient and precise drilling.
“Achieving drilling performance requires efficiently converting energy into rock cutting. Cerebro Force in-bit sensors provide direct measurements to help operators optimize their rate of penetration to reduce well construction costs,” said David Loveless, vice president of Drill Bits and Services.
“We are excited to add the only in-bit sensor that accurately measures strain and pressure to our portfolio of products.”
The technology is available on fixed cutter drill bits and is compatible with conventional motor and rotary steerable drive systems.
An operator in West Texas recently deployed Cerebro Force to improve directional control while drilling the curve portion of its wells.
Cerebro Force data identified several issues that limited performance, and Halliburton developed a mitigation plan that optimized drilling practices and BHA design. This reduced the time to drill the curve section by 38 percent.
India’s State-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) has cancelled Rs 500 crore contracts placed on a China-backed PT Hexing as it failed to comply with the local content norms.
EESL is expected to conduct fresh bidding for about 30 lakh smart meters in which, Indonesia-based PT Hexing that is backed by a Chinese firm, and other foreign firms will have to seek approval from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), as per the latest public procurement norms to participate in the tenders.
The Managing Director of EESL Saurabh Kumar said the cancellation of the contract has “nothing to do with the origin of investment. They failed in the terms of contract for domestic manufacturing.”
EESL had not begun deployment of the initial batch of smart meters that arrived from PT Hexing.
The tender for procurement of two million smart meters was won by PT Hexing under global bidding about two years ago.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on June 4 modified public procurement norms to give preference to companies whose goods and services have more than 50% local content.
The revised order on public procurement classifies suppliers into class-I, II and non-local suppliers, based on which they will get preference in government purchases of goods and services.
India recently barred non-local suppliers in bidding for contracts for supply of about 110 goods and services to power plants.
The non-local suppliers are manufacturers with less than 20% local content.
These tenders, in respect of which there is sufficient local capacity, will be open to only “class–I local suppliers” or those vendors who have more than 50% local content.
The power ministry has issued public procurement order with separate lists of products with adequate manufacturing capacity in India and those being manufactured locally under technology license from foreign countries.
The ministry’s latest order dated July 28 mandates that tenders for these 110 equipment and works can be awarded only to local companies with high localisation.
The equipment includes transformers, switch gears, cables and insulators, which are imported in large numbers in India despite available local capacity.
The ministry’s order is based on the June 4 order of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) that provides for compulsory purchase preference to local suppliers.
The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) has announced a $200 million facility support to boost Nigeria’s crude oil production capacity.
The facility is part of a $1.5 billion Pre-Export Finance Facility provided by consortium of Nigerian commercial and international banks, with UBA as the lead arranger, for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
According to the Vanguard, a statement from the bank said the deal will provide $200 million to support investment growth and liquidity requirements.
“The facility will provide much needed capital for investment in NNPC’s production capacity, which is of strategic importance to the Nigerian economy and the country’s leading source of foreign exchange earnings. UBA’s position as Lead Arranger recognises the Group’s strength in structuring and deploying financing to the oil and gas sector, and the depth and liquidity of the Group’s balance sheet.
“The $1.5 billion facility is structured in two tranches. The first tranche of $1 billion, to be repaid over a period of five years, will be provided in dollars, with UBA acting as the Facility Agent Bank. The second tranche of $500 million, will be provided in local currency, over seven years, with UBA acting as Lead Bank, providing $200 million in naira equivalent.
“Both facilities will be repaid from an allocation of 30,000 barrels per day of NPDC’s crude oil. UBA has a strong track record in the resources sector across Africa, having facilitated oil prepayment deals with the NNPC, including its 2013 $100 million participation in the PXF Funding Limited transaction, and a further $60 million in the 2015 Phoenix Export Funding Limited transaction. In Senegal, UBA was responsible for the EUR 240 million revolving crude oil financing facility for the Société Africaine de Raffinage and in Congo Brazzaville co-funded the $250 million crude oil prepayment facility for Orion Oil Limited,” the statement noted.
The Nigerian electric power industry (‘NEPI’) report – Agusto “Other participants in the NNPC deal include Standard Chartered Bank, Afrexim Bank, Union Bank and two oil trading companies, Vitol and Matrix.” Speaking on this development, UBA Group Chairman, Tony O. Elumelu stated “This has been one of the most economically challenging years that Nigeria has witnessed. With the sharp drop in the price of oil and the ensuing hardship that followed the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the private sector must come together and contribute meaningfully to the economy.
India’s fuel demand may take 6 to 9 months to rebound to normal levels as several states impose lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Director-Finance S K Gupta has said.
Fuel sales had fallen by a record 45.8 percent in April when a nationwide lockdown was in place to check the coronavirus infections. Lockdown restrictions have been progressively eased beginning May but now several states are imposing lockdown to curb record daily infection rates.
Speaking at an investor call on first-quarter earnings, Gupta said it was difficult to predict the demand recovery rate given the rising infections in India and around the world.
“It may take 6 to 9 months to return to normal,” he said.
After making a smart recovery in May, fuel sales have dipped from the second-half of June.
Diesel, which accounts for two-fifths of the overall petroleum product demand in India, fell 13 per cent to 4.85 million tonne in July from the previous month and by about 21 per cent from a year earlier, according to provisional PSU sales data.
Petrol sales fell 1 percent to 2.03 million tonne in July from June, and by about 11.5 per cent from a year ago, while jet fuel sales in July rose 4 per cent from the previous month to about 218,000 but fell 65 per cent from July 2019 as air travel curbs continued.
The only fuel that has consistently seen a rise in demand is cooking gas (LPG) which at 2.27 million tonne was 10 percent more than June and 3.5 per cent higher than a year ago sales, the data showed.
A tough initial lockdown was imposed beginning March 25 but dreams of a V-shaped recovery after it was eased in May have been obliterated by a surge in cases and new lockdowns.
Last week, IOC Chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya had stated that demand would begin to rebound only by year-end.
New lockdowns in India had knocked capacity utilisation at refineries down from 93 per cent in early July to 75 per cent by the end of the month but it was predicted to stabilise in the coming months.
“The number of lockdowns states are now announcing, that is taking its toll on the demand numbers,” he had said on July 31. “One thing is sure, we aren’t going back to the normal times at least in the near future.”
New lockdowns are hitting the country’s economic recovery as there appear no signs of the infection rate slowing.
Gupta said a capital spending of Rs 26,233 crore is planned in fiscal year 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021). Of this, around Rs 4,200 crore is planned to be spent on refinery upgrades and pipelines, Rs 5,000 crore on marketing infrastructure, Rs 2,200 crore on petrochemical projects, and Rs 5,000 crore on group companies.
“We want to complete this capex spending as there is no point in deferring capex already approved,” he said. “We want all the schemes (approved) to be taken on priority and spend Rs 21,000 crore capex (standalone for IOC, excluding group companies). To what extent we will be able to achieve (the target), that has to be seen (in view of COVID-19 spread). We are doing our best to spend.”
“As on date, plans stand. As we go forward things can be different depending on ground realities,” he said.
He said the planned expenditure on refineries is for completing BS-VI fuel upgradation spillover work while greater investment is planned in pipelines and marketing infrastructure that will reduce transportation and logistics cost.
The company has an ambitious plan to add more than 1,000 petrol pumps to its market-dominating presence of 29,368 outlets.
IOC, which saw its first-quarter net profit tank 47 per cent due to inventory losses, is likely to record inventory gains in the current quarter but core refinery margins are likely to remain subdued.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Organisers of Africa Oil Week have announced that it will host this year’s event via virtual online on October 8 in Cape Town, South Africa.
The session will be in partnership with TGS and the Somali Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
Somali’s Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Hon. Eng. Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, is expected to open the session with an exclusive address.
Following this, an expert panel would present on security, fiscal terms and seismic data available.
The panelists are:
• Phil McDonald, Regional Director for Africa, Castor Vali
• Scot Fraser, Co-Founder, Ventura International Energy LLC,
• Dr Alessio Checconi, Senior Business Development Manager for Africa and the Middle East, TGS
The 90-minute session will be the first opportunity to hear directly from the Minister following the official licensing round announcement planned for August 4. Attendees will be encouraged to question the expert speakers directly about above and below ground risks, including offshore security concerns, attractiveness of fiscal terms and other factors that are a consideration for any oil and gas business looking to enter Somalia.
There is no doubt that Somalia has become a significantly more attractive prospect since the signing of the country’s Petroleum Law and Revenue Sharing Agreement earlier this year. With up to seven blocks on offer, the round, set to conclude in March 2021, presents Operators with the opportunity to enter one of the last truly frontier passive margins in the world.
The “Somalia Licensing Round: Derisking Above Ground Factors” session will be part of AOW Virtual, a two-day online conference recently launched by Africa Oil Week. The free-to-attend conference will aim to reignite the African upstream after a period of global downtime and will feature strategic outlooks from operators, a natural gas vs renewables debate and more.
Further announcements are coming soon. To find these, and to learn more about the Somalia session and AOW Virtual, visit: https://bit.ly/3fxC5CX
Kosmos Energy has reported a second-quarter loss of US$199 million after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.
The Dallas-based company said it had a loss of 49 cents. Losses adjusted for one-time gains and costs were 23 cents per share.
Meanwhile, the independent oil and gas company posted revenue of US$127.3 million in the same period.
The company’s shares closed at US$1.61. A year ago, they were trading at US$5.87.
Despite the recent stabilising of oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact continue to create a challenging environment for the oil and gas sector.
“Kosmos’ response remains focused on safe and reliable operations by protecting the health of our employees and contractors, reducing the risk of the virus spreading in our operations and minimising the impact on our business.
“We are also working closely with the local communities in the countries we operate in around the world to fight the virus,” the company said in a statement.
Commenting on the company’s second quarter 2020 performance, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew G. Inglis said: “Kosmos delivered strong operational performance in the second quarter, despite a challenging backdrop for our industry. Production was in line with guidance and we are on track to deliver the cost reductions we set out earlier in the year.
“We have added an additional source of liquidity with the prepayment agreement, and total liquidity stood at over US$600 million at the end of the second quarter. At current oil prices, the company has reached a free cash flow inflection point and we expect to generate positive free cash flow through the second half of the year and into 2021.
“Looking forward, we continue to make good progress in Mauritania & Senegal despite the COVID-19 mitigations, with Phase 1 of the Tortue project now around 40 percent complete, a seven percent increase in the quarter, which supports the sell down process. We continue to mature our exploration portfolio focusing on high return, fast payback opportunities with several proven basin, infrastructure-led exploration targets and a self-funded basin-opening exploration program expected in 2021.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
The Chief Executive Officer of Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) in the Republic of Ghana, Senyo Hosi has decried what he described as endemic systemic culture of corruption as the root cause of uneven standard of living in the West African nation.
He said corruption has eaten into every fabric of Ghana’s socio-political systems that, institutions are not working, laws are bent to favour the norm and the system continues to work to favour just select-privileged few at the detriment of the masses.
Mr. Hosi said this in a virtual conference themed: ‘Corruption: Weak Institutions-We Are Going Nowhere’, in Accra, capital of Ghana.
The conference was organised by the Rotary Club of Accra.
“In our industry, we lost GHc8.2 billion in taxes because of illegal trade and theft of taxes. Clearly, anybody who has been found culpable come suggesting that he or she is a member of the party in power.”
He explained that the trend makes nonsense, arguing that one does not steal from the people and come and talk about political party.
He stressed that the state being milked is not party machinery, but it is the people such corrupt officials are stealing from.
Quoting from Section 179, subsection(c) of the Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act of 1960, Mr. Hosi argued that many contracts; be it competitive bidding or sole sourcing, officials and private individuals have ways to succumvent procurement processes to milk the state.
Touching on political campaign funding and awarding of contracts as compensation for such businessmen, he observed that until structures were put in place to regulate the norm, the gap between the rich few and the majority poor would continue to widen.
The phenomenon, he opined makes nonsense of hard work, education and discipline to the advantage of those who just network in the Ghanaian society.
Corruption, Senyo Hosi stressed denies the future of poor people from succeeding or from hoping to transform their existing lives to the advantage of corrupt officials.
He further contended that corruption thrives where political governance systems are porous, leadership is poor and institutions are weak.
“Unfortunately, in our country, I think all of these exist badly enough and is quite a recurring feature for a long time,” he concluded.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Kenya Power has partnered with Safaricom to enable its customers pay for electricity through Bonga Points.
Through the partnership, Kenya Power’s 7.1 million domestic customers can now redeem their Bonga Points to purchase tokens or pay for their bills at the rate of 20 cents per Bonga Point.
The partnership gives customers an alternative wallet from which to pay for electricity, thus providing relief to households facing pressure from suppressed incomes due to the economic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, it provides customers with yet another cash-free avenue through which to pay for power, boosting the Company’s efforts to promote measures to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus. Presently, Kenya Power customers can pay for electricity using mobile money platforms and bank transfers, as alternative to cash payments.
“As an organization, we are acutely aware of the impact that this pandemic has had on many Kenyans. We are therefore calling on our customers to take advantage of this opportunity and pay for electricity using Bonga Points,” said Bernard Ngugi, Managing Director and CEO, Kenya Power in a press release.
Bonga is a loyalty scheme launched by Safaricom in 2007 to allow its customers accumulate points based on usage of services on its network.
Through a recent initiative dubbed ‘Bonga For Good,’ Safaricom saw over 1 billion Bonga Points redeemed towards food and household items.
“Over the years, our customers have enjoyed rewards such as airtime, data bundles and affordable devices for their loyalty to the Safaricom network. By partnering with Kenya Power, we hope to give our customers more options and freedom in how they utilize their loyalty points,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.
Customers paying for electricity using Bonga Points will be subjected to the applicable electricity tariff as stipulated by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Consumers of petroleum products in the Republic of Ghana will continue to enjoy stable prices of gasoline and gasoil as witnessed in the just ended pricing window.
The average national price per litre of both gasoil and gasoline has stood at GH¢4.80 since July 16.
The current prices are likely to remain unchanged for the next two weeks.
In July, Brent crude sold above the US$44 per barrel for the first time since March 6 when the price tussle between Saudi Arabia and Russia started, but could not break into the US$45 per barrel mark.
In a statement issued by the Institute for Energy Security (IES), it said the positive gain in price can be attributed to the continuous lessening of restrictions in economic activities around the world.
“Following this, Brent crude appreciated by 2.02 percent from US$42.59 per barrel recorded at the end of the first half of July to close at US$43.45 per barrel on average terms at the end of the second half of the month of July 2020,” it added.
S&P’s Platts benchmark revealed average gasoline price gained 1.15 percent to close at US$395.23 per metric tonne from a previous average of US$390.73 per metric tonne. However, the price of gasoil declined by almost 2.8 percent to close trading at US$371.85 per metric tonne from a previous average of US$361.80 per metric tonne over the two weeks’ trading session.
Collated data by the IES Economic Desk from the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market shows the cedi appreciated by 0.35 percent against the U.S. Dollar, trading at an average price of Gh¢5.73 over the period under assessment.
“By virtue of relative stability in prices of Brent crude, gasoline and gasoil on the international market, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) finds prices of fuel on the local market remaining largely fixed. The price stability projection is reinforced by the 0.35 percent appreciation of the local currency against the U.S Dollar, the major trading currency.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Italian energy major Eni has appointed Francesco Gattei as the new chief financial officer (CFO) of the company.
Eni announced the appointment in a statement issued on Monday, August 3, 2020.
Gattei is tasked with supporting the CEO in developing and implementing Eni’s economic and financial strategy during the company’s accelerated decarbonization plan.
Namely, Eni announced a major overhaul of its business in June as it stepped up efforts toward energy transition.
The company decided to create two business units with one focused on oil and gas called Natural Resources and the second new unit would focus mainly on renewable energy named Energy Evolution.
Eni’s current head of upstream Alessandro Puliti took on the lead role in Natural Resources while the company’s previous CFO Massimo Mondazzi took over as head of Energy Evolution.
Mondazzi stayed on as the company’s chief financial officer until 1 August 2020.
As for the new CFO, Gattei, he joined Agip S.p.A. in 1995. From 2001 to 2005 he was head of negotiations and commercial planning in Libya activities during the start-up and then the construction phases of the Western Libyan Gas Project.
In 2009, he was appointed head of upstream M&A, contributing to the rationalization of the portfolio, particularly in the UK and United States. He then became the SVP of market scenarios and strategic options in Eni, where he was also appointed Secretary of the Scenario and Sustainability Committee, a post he held until 2019.
He moved to Houston in 2019 to become the Eni’s upstream director of the Americas, managing the E&P business in the USA, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina.
As for other endeavours, he was a member of the board of directors of Saipem from 2014 to 2015.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
Petroleum haulage and transportation company, JK Horgle Transport and Company Ltd says it has retained its 700 workers despite the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which has affected business activities in the Republic of Ghana.
The company’s CEO, Joseph Kweku Horgle said his company decided to maintain all the staff for a good reason.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with energynewsafrica.com, Mr Horgle said the coronavirus pandemic is having a dire impact on the company’s revenues yet it prefers to keep workers because it has invested so much into them by way of training.
“On our side, we train our drivers and we spend huge sums of money in training them. We can’t give them all this training and ask them to go home. We will lose. People even try to poach our drivers because they are well trained,” he said.
He said the only thing that would send any worker out of the company is when an employee goes contrary to the laid down rules.
He, however, lamented that their business has gone down by 40 percent due to the coronavirus “and so the company is incurring additional cost by buying hand sanitizers, liquid soaps, thermometer guns to ensure that workers observe the covid-19 safety protocols.”
Mr Horgle, who was hopeful of business activities bouncing back in the future, urged industry players to remunerate and also invest in the training of their staff to enable them prevent industrial accidents.
“Don’t just buy a vehicle and not pay the driver well. Pay them well and invest in their training to know how to fight fire,” he advised.
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Sasol, a global integrated chemical and energy company is inviting interested Bidders to participate in a Request for Proposals (RFPs) process for the development of two embedded 10MW Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) facilities at Secunda, Mpumalanga and Sasolburg, Free State in South Africa.
A statement issued by the company on Monday explained that the move is part of its response to climate change.
Interested Bidders are expected to submit their bids before or on Friday, 02 October 2020.
Sasol Chief Sustainability Officer, Hermann Wenhold, said: “We are excited to launch the RFP which forms part of our broader Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction aspiration and moves us forward on our journey to achieving our target of a 10% GHG emission reduction by 2030.”
In May this year, Sasol invited the Bidders to participate in a Request for Information (RFI) process for the supply of renewable energy to its South African operations.
The RFPs for the development of the two embedded 10MW Solar PV facilities at Sasol’s Secunda and Sasolburg operations come at the back of that, and are a first step towards Sasol realising its commitment and objective to eventually procure 600MW of renewable energy capacity.
The successful Bidder(s) will be expected to design, finance, construct, operate, maintain and own the Solar PV facilities and their associated connection infrastructure to supply 10MW of power to each of Sasol’s operations at their own cost. The successful Bidder(s) will supply electricity from the Solar PV facilities as Independent Power Producer(s) to Sasol as part of a long-term Power Purchase Agreement.
Interested Bidders may apply for access to the RFP by forwarding their company profile together with contact details to: [email protected] .
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Chevron USA and Algonquin Power & Utility Corp have announced an agreement to co-develop renewable power projects to provide electricity to Chevron’s global portfolio.
Under the four-year agreement oil and gas multinational Chevron plans to generate more than 500MW of existing and future electricity demand, using renewable sources, to power their operations in the US Permian Basin, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Western Australia.
The 500MW capacity outlined in the agreement is equivalent to the energy used to power 400,000 US households in a year and construction is planned to start in 2021.
President of Chevron Pipeline & Power Allen Satterwhite said the agreement “advances Chevron’s commitment to lower our carbon footprint by investing in renewable power solutions that are reliable, scalable, cost efficient and directly support our core business.”
Projects will be jointly owned and co-developed by both parties. Algonquin, parent companies of Liberty Utilities and Liberty Power, will lead the design, development and construction of the projects. US multi-national oil industry company Chevron will purchase the electricity from the jointly owned projects through power purchase agreements.
Algonquin CEO Arun Banskota says continuing to invest in renewable energy solutions is fundamental to their business strategy: “By working with sustainability champions like Chevron we maximise the positive impact of the low carbon technologies we offer to communities across the US and Canada, and internationally.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
