Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), a consumer advocacy group in the Republic of Ghana, West Africa, is alleging that its intelligence reports indicate that the fire that gutted Goodness Energy tanker yard in Kpone, near Tema, on Wednesday night occurred because there was some illegal activities which were going on in the yard.
Twelve tankers got burnt while an office block in the yard was also razed by the inferno.
Deputy Tema Regional Commander of Ghana’s National Fire Service, Mr Timothy Osafo Affum told energynewsafrica.com that they have begun investigations to establish the cause of the fire.
However, COPEC says its intelligence points to the fact that there were persons who were engaging in manual adulteration of fuel.
“Intelligence sources indicate the blast had been occasioned by some illegal activities resulting from the boxing of some premix fuel with PMS and AGO using manual pumps in the process,” COPEC alleged in a statement signed by its Executive Director Duncan Amoah.
“A recently launched industry report by the CBOD estimates that about Ghc 2.7 billion of revenues due the state had been lost to these illegal operators within the past 3 years, it is thus our expectation that the state will go after these operators to clamp down on such activities to forestall any further revenue loses to the state.
“The practice of diverting and adulterating fuel products not only deprives the state of the much needed revenues but also puts consumers at a very high risk of developing all manner of mechanical and transmission challenges with their vehicles as the resultant products are usually far below the acceptable minimum national specifications and standards,” the statement continued.
Efforts by energynewsafrica.com to speak to owners of Goodness Energy proved futile.
Below is the full statement
Explosion At A Fuel Tank Yard In Kpone
Halt The Fuel Adulteration Now
The country has once again been hit with the sad incident of an explosion involving a number of Bulk Road Vehicles or fuel tankers last night at the Kpone enclave.
Over 15 BRVs are believed to have been affected in this recent explosion purported to be emanating from some illegal fuel boxing or adulteration activities within the said yard.
Intelligence sources indicate the blast had been occasioned by some illegal activities resulting from the boxing some premix fuel with PMS and AGO using manual pumps in the process.
While this unfortunate practice of mixing or adulteration of fuels is heavily frowned upon and sanctions should be strict and severe, recent developments suggest very little has been achieved in that regard.
Reports of premix fuel diversions abound and we expect authorities to clamp down heavily on these operators who are engaged in this illegal trade of diverting premix fuel meant for fishing boats, to some tank yards to be adulterated with other petroleum products for onward sale and discharge at some specific fuel stations.
The latest fire incident only further exposes how profound the adulteration of products continues to be a major headache confronting both the authorities and Ghanaian consumers.
A recently launched industry report by the CBOD estimates that about Ghc 2.7 billion of revenues due the state had been lost to these illegal operators within the past 3 years, it is thus our expectation that the state will go after these operators to clamp down on such activities to forestall any further revenue loses to the state.
The practice of diverting and adulterating fuel products not only deprives the state of the much needed revenues but also puts consumers at a very high risk of developing all manner of mechanical and transmission challenges with their vehicles as the resultant products are usually far below the acceptable minimum national specifications and standards.
Whiles we believe proper investigations will be carried out at the said tank yard, we will want to see perpetrators of such criminal practices of diverting and adulteration of petroleum products brought to book immediately to serve as a deterrent to others engaged in this illegal trade.
We further call on the NPA and the Ghana Standards Authority to immediately conduct an audit trail of all such products sent to some of these tanker yards and the fuel stations that buy or patronize such products in order to protect the unsuspecting public from the harm adulteration does to our engines as any attempts to cover or protect the perpetrators will be countenanced.
Signed
Duncan Amoah
Executive Secretary
Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Power has officially endorsed the upcoming Future Energy Nigeria conference and exhibition. The 16th edition of this longstanding, leading power and energy event will take place at the Eko Hotel in Lagos from 12-13 November 2019.
“The Ministry is proud to be in partnership with the successful hosting of this year’s event,” Mr Louis O.N. Edozien, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power said in an official letter to the organizers.
He adds: “the success of the last conference has given the Ministry the confidence to accord the upcoming event the necessary support that will avail stakeholders the opportunity to appreciate the gain recorded in the country’s power sector.”
“Receiving the Federal Ministry of Power’s official endorsement and confidence is extremely valuable, not to mention motivating” says Future Energy Nigeria’s business development director Ade Yesufu, “and we are proud to be the only event of its kind in Nigeria to receive official endorsement from the Federal Ministry of Power.”
Meanwhile the event organisers have also confirmed that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) will be an official supporting association of the event.
The upcoming Lagos event will present solutions for the power sector and connect power and energy professionals working together to advance a sustainable energy economy. “Nigeria is taking ownership of its power deficit and is taking charge of its energy future” says Ade Yesufu, “we are looking forward to bringing together all the stakeholders across the entire power sector value chain.”
Industry support
Leading industry partners and suppliers Jubaili Bros and Greenville LNG are early confirmed, returning gold and silver sponsors respectively. The exhibition is expected to feature some 70+ leading global and local technology and services providers for the power and energy industry, including country pavilions from South Africa and India.
Thermal power plant site visit
This year’s Future Energy Nigeria offers the unique opportunity again to go behind the scenes at a thermal power plant as part of a technical site visit tour at the Egbin Power Plant. An affiliate of the indigenous energy conglomerate, the Sahara Group, the company operates one of the largest thermal power plants in sub-Saharan Africa and contributes over 10% of the total electricity generated to the Nigerian National Grid. This makes it the heartbeat of power and the largest provider of electricity to Africa’s largest economy.
Utility CEO Forum: West Africa
During Future Energy Nigeria, the Utility CEO Forum: West Africa will also gather the region’s power leaders, including DisCos, GenCos and IPPs, for closed meetings that are by invitation only and facilitated under Chatham House Rules, to collaborate and focus on unique in-country challenges.
Future Energy Nigeria is organised by Spintelligent, a multi-award-winning Cape Town-based exhibition and conference producer across the continent in the infrastructure, energy and mining sectors. Other well-known events include African Utility Week, Future Energy East Africa, Nigeria Mining Week, East & Central Africa Mining Forum and DRC Mining Week. Spintelligent is part of the UK-based Clarion Events Group’s Clarion Energy Series, which runs over 40 events that cover the oil, gas, power and energy sectors, making it one of the group’s largest portfolios.
Future Energy Nigeria dates and location:
Conference, Expo and Knowledge Hub: 12-13 November 2019
Venue: Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos, Nigeria.
Website: https://www.future-energy-nigeria.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FutureEnergyHub
Linkedin: FutureEnergyAfrica
Tullow Ghana Limited, one of the players in Ghana’s petroleum upstream industry has donated a cheque of $20,000 to the Chance for Childhood Project in support of Street Girls in Accra.
The project, which is being carried out in partnership with Street Girls Aid is aimed at transforming the lives of street girls in order to ensure that they live independent and fulfilling lives.
Human Resource Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, Mr Nixon Amoah-Awuah, said the gesture was part of the company’s commitment to giving back to communities within which they operate.
“Tullow Ghana is happy to be a part of this life transforming activity of equipping less privileged girls so they can do more for themselves, their families and the society at large. It is our goal to constantly give back to the communities within which we operate,” he said.
He noted that the decision to give towards the project was agreed on by all employees after appreciating the plight of girls living on the streets.
Mr. Amoah-Awuah said “Every year, Tullow employees embark on a charity challenge where we look at a number of activities that charity organizations are embarking on and then select, which one we will support.
This year, we wanted to give support to girls living on the streets. Employees of Tullow today are giving this cheque from our share of the charity fund, to support Chance for Childhood’s Initiative towards supporting street girls. We hope to hear more positive stories from the girls in the future concerning how far they have come and how much their lives have improved”.
The Country Representative for Chance for Childhood, Mr Adam Abdul-Ghaffar, expressed gratitude to Tullow Ghana Limited for the donation and appealed to other corporate institutions to come to support the less privileged in society.
Chance for Childhood is a charity working in Africa to support the most vulnerable children, such as street children, disabled children, children affected by conflict and children in prisons.
Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services provider, has announced that the company will cut 9,000 jobs.
Schlumberger says that, in response to lower commodity pricing and anticipated lower exploration and production spending in 2015, the company decided to reduce its overall headcount in order to “better align with anticipated activity levels for 2015”.
Schlumberger recorded a $296 million charge associated with a headcount reduction of approximately 9,000.
In December 2014, Schlumberger reduced its overall headcount and its WesternGeco marine seismic fleet to lower its operating costs; but, yet at the time the company did not say how many jobs this decision will affect.
Schlumberger CEO, Paal Kibsgaard, commented: “In this uncertain environment, we continue to focus on what we can control. We have already taken a number of actions to restructure and resize our organization that has led us to record a number of charges in the fourth quarter.
Kibsgaard also said: “We are convinced that performance must now be driven by an accelerated change in the way we work through our transformation program.
Italian oilfield contractor Saipem, in consortium with Bos Shelf and STAR GULF FZCO, has recently been awarded three new contracts by BP for the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil and gas field offshore Azerbaijan.
Located in the Caspian Sea at approximately 120 kilometers from the coast of Azerbaijan, the field extends over an area of more than 4,000 square kilometers and is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Saipem has been a key contractor in this field since the 1990s.
BP has recently awarded key contracts for the Azeri-Central-East (ACE) project.
Some of the construction activities have already started and will run through mid-2022. The contracts, covering engineering, fabrication and construction, project management, and other services, followed the project final investment decision (FID) announced on April 19, 2019.
The contract for the fabrication of the jacket for the ACE platform and skirt piles has been awarded to the consortium consisting of BOS Shelf and Star Gulf FZCO. The value of this contract is around $260 million. The scope of work of the contract includes shop and erection engineering, rolling of tubulars, fabrication and assembly of the jacket and skirt piles, commissioning of installation systems, load-out and sea-fastening of the facility.
When it comes to Saipem’s share of work, the Italian company said on Friday that two contracts were for pipeline design, pipelay and related activities, while the third was for transportation & installation of four jacket pin piles, subsea structure, and spools.
Saipem’s share of the overall value of the three contracts is approximately $145 million.
Saipem said it had obtained one of these contracts as a result of the FEED phase awarded by BP to Saipem’s XSIGHT Division, in consortium with local partners Bos Shelf and Star Gulf, which were engaged from an early stage and on a fast track basis.
It is also worth mentioning that UK’s Subsea 7 won two contracts on the ACG projects in consortium with Bos Shelf. The two contracts together represent a sizable contract award for Subsea 7, which means the value is between $50 million and $150 million.
Shell has acquired a 20-percent stake in Indian company Orb Energy, provider of corporate loans to businesses that want to invest in solar power installations.
“This is a vital and growing sector, with great potential to contribute to the country’s renewable energy ambitions,” the vice president of Shell Energy Solutions, Brian Davis, said in a statement, as quoted by Bloomberg.
Shell earlier this year made headlines with plans to become not just a player in electricity generation, but also the biggest one by 2030.
The Anglo-Dutch supermajor said it was pouring US$2 billion annually into its new energies division that aimed to expand its presence in cleaner power generation. This segment could yield returns of between 8 and 12 percent, the head of the new energies unit, Maarten Wetselaar, told Bloomberg in March.
Shell’s plans involve bringing reliable power supply to as many as 100 million people around the world by 2030.
India is an obvious focus of attention with its growing population and energy needs and its far from satisfactory levels of access to electricity. The supermajor has already made several acquisitions in the power sector there building a footprint in a fast-growing energy market.
“Our view is if society needs to tackle the dual challenge of climate change but also accommodating higher demand for energy — as of course the energy poor need to get access to energy as well — we have to reduce the carbon footprint of the energy system as a society to a net zero level,” Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden said in 2017 as he announced a plan to reduce the company’s emissions footprint by half by 2050.
India’s Department of Science and Technology last month announced it had reached its solar power capacity target of 20 GW four years earlier than planned. Now, the target was revised up to 100 GW by 2022.
Ghana’s National Fire Service in Tema Region have begun investigations into the circumstances that caused the fire outbreak at the Goodness Energy tanker yard in Kpone on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, resulting in the burning of 12 tankers.
Deputy Regional Commander, Mr Timothy Osafo Affum told energynewsafrica.com they have been in talks with the owner of the tanker yard to find out how the fire started.
Initially, energynewsafrica.com reported that 15 tankers were burnt into ashes but Mr Osafo Affum clarified that the number of the tankers that got burnt was later discovered to be 12.
Personnel of the Tema Regional Fire Service at the scene of the fire
He said 10 tankers were completely burnt while the other two were partially burnt.
Explaining how his outfit got information about the fire, he said it was around 7pm Wednesday, when his outfit received a distress call that the tanker yard was on fire.
He said: “We quickly mobilised six fire tenders and one water tanker and proceeded to the scene.”
He said personnel of the service did their best to control the raging inferno, adding that at about 2am Thursday, they contained the fire and packed and left but were called back that the fire had not been completely quenched.
According to him, the service personnel returned to the scene and managed to completely put off the fire around 7am Thursday.
“Once we’re done with our investigations, we will let the public know what caused the fire,” he assured.
When energynewsafrica.com‘s team got to the scene at about 10pm on Wednesday, fire fighters from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were tirelessly working to bring the fire under control.
Eyewitness
According to an eyewitness who spoke to energynewsafrica.com, he was returning from work when he heard of an explosion and traced the smoke to the scene.
He said when he arrived at the scene, he saw thick smoke coming out from the tanker yard.
He said when the fire started, there were a couple of drivers around, explaining that some managed to quickly drive their tankers out of the yard.
He commended the personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service for their efforts.
At the time energynewsafrica.com was leaving the fire scene at about 1am, personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service were still battling the fire.
On the 16th of October, the U.S. – Angola Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Embassy of Angola in the United States and the Angola Representation at the World Bank Group, will host the first Angola Economic Forum (AEF), just before the 2019 Annual World Bank – IMF meeting.
The Africa Energy Chamber (https://EnergyChamber.org/) endorses this event and encourages US based investors to take a new look at Angola in light of recent improvements made in Angola’s business operating environment.
The timing and the theme of the event, “Unlocking Angola’s Growth Opportunities”, couldn’t be more appropriate. After nearly two years of deep institutional, legal and fiscal reforms, the Angolan business landscape is almost hard to recognize for anyone familiar with the business environment in the country over the last decade. The government of President João Lourenço has kept its promise to overhaul the country’s financial system, deconstruct chronically established rent-sinking structures and, above all, take direct aim at reorganizing the country’s economic backbone, its oil and gas industry.
From the onset of his ascension to power, President Joao Lourenco sought to make changes in key institutions like the National Oil Company Sonangol and the Oil ministry, favoring tried and proven professionals to political appointees as has often been the case in the past.
At the same time, the government took the landmark decision of stripping Sonangol from its regulatory role, putting an end to decades of conflicts of interest that stifled decision making and investment in the key oil and gas sector. Sonangol is no longer responsible for awarding oil exploration and production licenses to companies to which, it is technically a competitor. That is now the responsibility of the newly-created National Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG), an independent institution that, since 2018, manages the country’s oil and gas licensing procedures.
The Petroleum Agency is guided by a new oil and gas framework that has been in place over the past two years, a new natural gas specific legal framework, the first in the country’s history, was also drafted to provide clarity and give license-holders the right to explore these resources for their own benefit and that of the country. A new fiscal framework was drafted and implemented to make the industry more competitive and attractive to foreign investors and, more specifically, a comprehensive master-plan was drawn for the country’s extensive network of marginal fields, with which the government hopes to address dwindling production rates while it waits for renewed investment in exploration to pay off.
The energy sector is second to none on Lourenço’s agenda. The Minister Dimantino Azevedo has made it a priority to listen and be proactive to the industry concerns and create an enabling environment to execute Lourenço’s agenda. Opportunities to invest span from exploration in new blocks on offer to mid-stream refinery and downstream distribution expansion projects. Plans have been drawn to boost the country’s LNG production, and extensive works for new refinery capacity are well underway to rid the country of its dependency on fuel imports and permit Angola to become the refining hub for the subregion. A plan for monetizing Angola’s natural gas reserves and using them for power generation and industrial expansion has also been devised.
Beyond the paperwork, the regulatory institutions have been thinned, made more efficient and goal-oriented, while licensing procedures have been streamlined and are now much easier and quicker to navigate. Good governance and efficiency are driving the development of a conducive and enabling business environment. It’s a welcome all out house-cleaning that was long overdue.
So now, the time has come to address investors and partners, and open the doors for new mutually beneficial relations to be born.
Perhaps no action speaks louder in this sense than the Marginal Fields Bid Round that the Petroleum Agency and the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum is launching on the 3rd of October 2019. 10 fields will be put on offer in 2019, block 10 of the Benguela basin and blocks 11, 12, 13, 27, 28, 29, 41, 42 and 43 in the Namibe basin. The ongoing roadshow by the Petroleum Agency that had stopovers in Houston, Dubai and London was very widely attended, an indication of the interest that Angola’s oil and gas sector continues to foster with investors.
The fiscal and contractual incentives inscribed in the new fiscal and legal frameworks overseeing these fields have turned what used to be uneconomic prospects, into extremely enticing opportunities for capable oil and gas players. This is a landmark moment, as the last time an international public tender was held for oil licenses in Angola was back in 2011. The ANPG plans to hold a new tender every year in the run up to 2025. 55 licenses have been earmarked for bid rounds during this period, with estimated reserves in the billions.
The official announcement for the tender was made in early September 2019, in Luanda. Unsurprisingly, the second stop on the map of roadshows the ministry has prepared took place in Houston, Texas, on the 10th of September. It is no secret that the Angolan government has sustained a decades-long relationship with many of the US’s biggest oil players. Today, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Baker Hughes or Halliburton are dominant names in the market, alongside a few of their European counterparts.
The oil companies in particular, as describe in NJ Ayuk’s “Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing Deals,” which is currently available for order on Amazon, was a fundamental partner of the Angolan government in sustaining and developing the country’s oil industry through a civil war and many different crisis.
Now, Angola is again offering skillful American players of all sizes the opportunity to participate in mutually-beneficial partnerships that will contribute to the healthy and sustainable development of this world-class oil play.
After a successful roadshow in Houston, investors now have the opportunity to further understand the major opportunities available in the Angolan market by attending the Angola Economic Forum. This will be the first in a series of annual events designed to showcase the economic opportunities available in the Angolan market and build bridges with competent and capable partners. The one-day forum will focus on Angola’s economic outlook, its financial systems and, notably, on the recently-implemented reform efforts and the opportunities for private capital investments available today.
There has never been a better time to understand this market, so full of growth potential, at a moment when opportunities are being built on principles of transparency, profitability and long-term partnerships. Perhaps the most exciting oil play in Africa is at the verge of a new era, and American players should keep their eyes and ears open if they don’t want to miss out on the game.
By Sergio Pugliese, Angolan President of the African Energy Chamber and Verner Ayukegba, Senior Vice President of the African Energy Chamber
Chief Executive of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD) in the Republic of Ghana, Senyo Hosi, has said an influential cartel of industry players are stealing Ghana’s petroleum revenues.
Mr Hosi’s comment come on the back of revelations in CBOD’s 2018 Industry Report showing that, some one billion litres of the refined commodity could not be accounted for between 2015 and 2017.Speaking on an Accra based Joy FM, Mr Hosi said traceable data from official sources show that this loss of litres translates to almost GH¢1.4 billion.He said the persons behind this systematic theft of the petroleum revenue are part of a ruthless cartel who are able to recruit even very powerful public and private officials.“It’s a cartel of industry players and may include politicians, the BDCs [Bulk Distribution Companies] and OMCs [Oil Marketing Companies]…it involves a lot of people; possibly officials also from the regulator [National Petroleum Authority],” he said.
This cartel, whose members he has refused to identify, presents a major threat to the country’s petroleum revenue.
According to Mr Hosi, this GH¢1.4 billion loss (the estimated cost of the one billion litres that cannot be accounted for) occurred through petroleum tax revenue evasion.
The latest report by the CBOD also noted that for the period 2015 to 2018, total taxes evaded based on official unaccounted stocks stood at GH¢1.3 billion while total under-reported taxes based on official accounted sale volume after adjustments for exemptions stands at GH¢1.2 billion.
However, an additional GH¢238.96 million was also stolen through the evasion of regulatory margins.
“This implies that the country has lost a total of GH¢2.6 billion in taxes for the period. Combined with the evaded regulatory margin of GH¢231.53 million, a total GH¢2.790.59 million has been lost to the nation in taxes and regulatory margins for the period 2015 to 2018,” the report recounted Ghana’s revenue loss.
Although the petroleum tax revenue increased on the back of reduced illegal trades which reflected in an increase in official volumes, under-reporting of taxes on official sales by GH¢433.75 million in 2018 after adjusting for tax exemptions and waivers was not eliminated.
Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas firm, Sonatrach, says it has held meetings with US supermajor ExxonMobil to discuss possible partnerships.
Sonatrach offered no further details on the meetings that were held on September 25 and 26.
The news follows reports from Sonatrach that it had been holding talks with Chevron in early September.
Sonatrach is looking to boost output to increase revenues after a decline in oil prices hit its budget hard.
In a statement the state-run firm said it had been holding talks with ExxonMobil earlier in the year but reported in March that talks with the US supermajor on developing a gas field had stalled
Ecuador has hinted of plans to leave the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in January 2020. For OPEC, the departure matters more in symbolism than barrels — Ecuador is one of its smallest producers, but stated clearly it wants to leave the group to boost oil revenues at a moment when the whole cartel is suffering from low prices. It also comes less than a year after Qatar announced it would leave, saying it wanted to focus on natural gas production.
“Ecuador is being honest about not being able to subject itself to further cuts,” said Schreiner Parker, vice president for Latin America at consultant Rystad Energy. The departure comes amid efforts by Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno to reverse economic policies imposed by his predecessor. “Moreno wants to pursue his own policies, and is more market-friendly than people originally thought, ” Parker said.
Ecuador has been in breach of its promised production limits every month this year. In 2017, Ecuador said it wasn’t going to abide by the quotas, prompting a phone call from Saudi Arabia’s then-energy minister, Khalid al-Falih. In February, Ecuador’s Resources Minister Carlos Perez said again that the nation would produce more than its limit.
“We will continue to produce what we need,” Perez said at the time. “Do not forget that what is decided in OPEC is not mandatory.”
Ecuador has left before — it joined OPEC in 1973 and suspended its membership in 1992. Former President Rafael Correa restarted its membership in 2007. Other countries have left and returned, including Gabon and Indonesia.
The exit sends a message to the oil industry that Ecuador is open for business in a region where Venezuela is hobbled by sanctions and economic collapse, Mexico has halted any new bid rounds, and political uncertainty is restraining investments in Argentina. Removing the risk of future OPEC-related constraints on production will make it easier to attract drillers and get financing.
“It sends a signal that at the moment their interest is in bringing in a lot of investment, and it may open up new markets. You have to figure all that was part of the decision making,” John Padilla, managing director of IPD Latin America LLC. “Particularly given the vacuum created by the sanctions in Venezuela and the drop off in Mexican production, it’s an interesting marketing signal.”
Oil fell to the lowest in almost two months on Tuesday as the outlook for the global economy darkened, signaling that OPEC will need to cut production further if it wants to balance out the global market. The cartel will need to cut 3 million barrels a day by the end of 2020 to shore up prices, according to estimates from Rystad. OPEC output sank the most in 16 years last month after an attack on Saudi Arabia’s energy facilities. The group and its allies have committed to cutting supply by 1.2 million barrels a day to support prices.
OPEC didn’t immediately respond to a telephone call and email made after normal business hours.
Ecuador is currently developing a 1.6 Bbbl heavy crude oil field in part of the Yasuni National Park. Protests by indigenous and environmental organizations have stopped efforts to develop the oil industry in the southern half of its Amazon territories, which officials have pushed for opening to tenders as soon as 2020.
Perez, a career private sector oilman, has scrapped plans for a refinery project and reintroduced production-sharing agreements that helped to attract foreign oil investment until the prior president scrapped them. Correa raised taxes on the industry and seized assets, including from oil company Perenco SA, which won an arbitration case last month that will force Ecuador to pay close to $500 million.
“Ecuador didn’t fulfill quotas at 100%. Occasionally, the government used the argument of quotas to impose limits on private companies’ output,” said local oil analyst Fernando Santos, a former chief legal adviser to OPEC and Ecuadorian oil minister.
Ecuador’s reversal of Correa’s brand of 21st century socialism also includes a renewal of ties with the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders, who have pledged to provide $10.2 billion in loans through 2021. The exit announcement came just before the president was due to unveil structural reforms to meet IMF program requirements.
Still, the news was a surprise to some.
“I had no idea this was coming,” said Santos, who only days ago had recommended Ecuador leave OPEC while sitting on a panel in Quito with Perez. “Major companies were always in fear of coming to Ecuador and having the OPEC quotas imposed on them.”
Russian oil firm Rosneft has made an oil discovery offshore the Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East.
“As part of its exploration campaign, Rosneft Oil Company has successfully completed the drilling of the first prospecting and appraisal well at the Vostochno-Pribrezhny license block on the shelf of Sakhalin Island, resulting in the discovery of a new oil field,” Rosneft said.
The Vostochno-Pribrezhny license block is located in the Nabilsky Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk.
The well was drilled by Rosneft’s drilling contractor RN-Burenie, to the measured depth of 3,047 meters, and a set of geophysical studies in the open hole confirmed the oil saturation of productive formations.
“Preparations are now underway to test the well in casing. According to preliminary estimates, the reserves are up to 2 million tonnes of oil, which will be included in the State balance sheet in 2019,” Rosneft said.
“The first well drilled in the licensed area at the moment confirms the forecast made earlier by the Company’s geologists for the resource potential of the entire area of 11 million tonnes of oil equivalent,” Rosneft added.
A fuel tanker yard belonging to Goodness Energy, one of the Oil Marketing Companies in the Republic of Ghana was, on Wednesday, gutted by fire, burning about 15 tankers in the process and an office facility in the yard located in Kpone farm area.
The fire was believed to have started at about 8pm.
It is not yet clear what caused the inferno.
The situation drew scores of people living around the area to the scene to catch a glimpse of the unfortunate development.
When energynewsafrica.com‘s team got to the scene at about 10pm, fire fighters from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were tirelessly working to bring the fire under control.
About five fire tenders from the various fire stations were deployed to the area to fight the fire.
According to an eyewitness who spoke to energynewsafrica.com, he was returning from work when he heard of an explosion and traced the smoke to the scene.
He said when arrived at the scene, he saw thick smoke coming out from the tanker yard.
He said when the fire started, there were a couple of drivers around, explaining that some managed to quickly drive their tankers out of the yard.
He commended the personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service for their efforts.
At the time energynewsafrica.com was leaving the fire scene at about 1am, personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service were still battling the fire.
Officials of Goodness Energy who were at the scene were tight-lipped and would not comment.Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
The Government of Ghana is planning to clear all the legacy debts owned the Bulk Oil Distribution Companies by the end of 2019.
So far, government has paid about US$929.58 million between 2011 and 2019.
Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr Alhassan Tampuli, who revealed this at the launching of the 2018 Industry Report prepared by the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), described the development as commendable.
“There was progress made on government’s legacy debt to BDCs with the payment of all outstanding principal sums (USD427.11mn) and the validation of the interest components.
This brings to total an amount of USD806.25mn in subsidies incurred by government through its subsidy policy between 2011 and 2015.
“A total of USD929.58mn has been paid between 2011 and September 2019 with a total of USD52.62mn outstanding and expected to be paid by end of 2019, ” Mr Alhassan Tampuli explained on Tuesday, during the launch of the 2018 Industry Report prepared by the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD).
Growth
Touching on how the downstream subsector has performed over the past two years, Mr Alhassan Tampuli noted that the annual growth in consumption of petroleum products reduced by 9 percent in 2016, increased by 6 percent in 2017 and reached its highest so far in 2018. 2018 saw a 15 percent growth in consumption from 3.4 million Mt in 2017 to 3.9 million Mt in 2018.
This, he said, rode on the back of successes realised in the fight against the illicit petroleum trade, thereby increasing official demand for gasoline, gasoil and LPG.
“This volume of consumption is the highest observed to date and it bears eloquent testimony of significant occurrence of economic activities anchored on the enabling environment provided by the government through deliberate policy initiatives aimed at propelling the private sector growth, since petroleum drives economic activities. It is also a testament of significant successes in the NPA’s efforts towards curbing illicit fuel activities in the country,” he said.
Fuel Adulteration
On fuel adulteration, Mr Alhassan Tampuli said his outfit was aware that petroleum products that did not meet national specifications were not allowed entry into the market by the NPA.
However, he said as a result of smuggling and dumping of petroleum products meant for export onto the market in recent years, the petroleum product marking scheme recorded high failure rates in 2016 and 2017.
Specifically, the recorded failure rate among retail stations averaged 6.20 percent and 4.91 percent in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
“It is gratifying to note that, our stringent measures in tackling fuel smuggling among others, have been successful as failure rate declined to less than one percent in 2018.”
Source:www.energynewsafrica.com
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com 