Ghana: Interdicted TICO Workers Petition Energy Ministry To Investigate Their Management
Seven interdicted executives of the Workers Union at the Takoradi International Company, TICO/TAQA, operators of the 330 megawatts T2 combined-cycle plant in the Aboadze Power enclave of the Western Region, have called on the Energy Minister to investigate their General Manager, Ernest Kofi Osafo for allegedly mismanaging the plant and mistreating workers.
The workers who spoke on condition of anonymity say they now want the Abu Dhabi Group owners to replace their leadership or pay them off.
The 330 megawatts combined cycle plant, generally referred to as T2, is operated by the Takoradi International Company, TICO/TAQA, which is a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company with VRA owning ten percent.
According to one of the interdicted workers, the plant has been operating at one-third of its full capacity of 330 megawatts since October 2018 due to alleged mismanagement by the General Manager, Ernest Kofi Osafo, and the Plant Manager, Nellissery Krishman.
“It has to do with managerial decisions which are preventing the plant from running at its full capacity from time to time. This affects me as a worker and as a Ghanaian. We all know the effects of power instability on individuals and business, therefore we have a duty to act on such. Some of the managerial deficiencies that are not helping and workers are not happy include a filter which was found not working on 30th January this year.”
“Maintenance was expected to have been done after we informed them, rather, instead of asking for the plant to be shut for maintenance, they were looking for high productivity and money. Therefore the plant was allowed to operate till the filter house collapsed and about 160 out of the 330 megawatts was lost. There was also an issue with the by-pass stop valve which we brought to the attention of the management led by Mr. Ernest Kofi Osafo, as the hydraulic was leaking.”
“Again, instead of allowing the plant to be shut-down for maintenance work to be done, they allowed the plant to operate until there was a fire outbreak. These and many others are what is making the workers unhappy which they wrote to the company CEO in Morocco to investigate. Instead of management waiting for that investigation to be done, they went ahead to query some individuals. This is why some of the executives expressed their displeasure with such managerial deficiencies by putting on the red armbands even though we have been working all throughout.”
Meanwhile, the General Manager of the Takoradi International Company, Ernest Kofi Osafo, indicated that the interdiction of the seven union executives is justified, insisting they have breached the labour laws by their conduct.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
Norway Launches Fresh Offshore Licensing Round
The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy on Wednesday announced the APA 2019 licensing round, comprising the predefined areas with blocks in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea.
The award in predefined areas round is one of two equal licensing rounds on the Norwegian continental shelf. The scheme was introduced in 2003 to facilitate exploration in geologically mature parts of the Shelf.
Norway’s Minister of Oil and Energy Kjell-Børge Freiberg said: “We are continuing our practice of offering regular concessions on the NCS to provide the industry access to new acreage. Awarding prospective acreage is a central element in the Government’s policy. I believe the oil companies are well motivated to continuing exploring the NCS.”
The application deadline for the APA-2019 is 12:00 on August 27, 2019. The Ministry stated that the aim was to award new production licenses in the announced areas at the beginning of 2020.
The predefined areas (APA acreage) has been expanded by a total of 90 blocks – five in the North Sea, 37 in the Norwegian Sea, and 48 in the Barents Sea.
“The expansion of the APA-area is important to ensure effective exploration of larger parts of the NCS, including the Barents Sea. The expansion will give the companies access to new opportunities that can enable value creation, employment and technology development,” Freiberg added.
The APA area includes the geologically most mature parts of the Norwegian continental shelf. Exploration mainly focuses on smaller discoveries that would not justify an independent development but may be profitable if developed in conjunction with other discoveries or utilizing existing or planned infrastructure.
Source: offshoreenergytoday.com
Eni Expands In Mozambique With three New Offshore Licenses
Italian oil company Eni has acquired rights to explore and develop offshore blocks A5-B, Z5-C and Z5-D, located in the deep waters of Angoche and Zambezi Basins offshore Mozambique.
Through a farm-in agreement, signed with ExxonMobil Mozambique Exploration & Production Limitada and authorized by Mozambican institutions, Eni’s subsidiary Eni Mozambico acquires a 10% stake in the three blocks, the company announced on Wednesday.
Block A5-B is located about 1,300 kilometers northeast of the capital Maputo, in a completely unexplored area off the city of Angoche. It has an area of 6,080 square kilometers, at a water depth of between 1,800 and 2,500 meters.
Blocks Z5-C and Z5-D cover a total area of 10,205 square kilometers, at a water depth between 500 and 2,100 meters, in a scarcely explored area facing the delta of the Zambezi River, about 800 kilometers to the north-east of the capital Maputo.
The three blocks, assigned under the 5th Licensing Round, are operated by ExxonMobil (40%), in partnership with the Mozambican State company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH, 20%), Rosneft (20%), and Qatar Petroleum (10%).
It is worth reminding that Qatar Petroleum signed a farm in deal with ExxonMobil to acquire a 10 percent stake in blocks A5-B, Z5-C and Z5-D in December 2018. This marked QP’s entry into the country.
“With this acquisition, Eni further strengthens its presence in Mozambique, a country of strategic importance for the company,” Eni said.
In the 5th Licensing Round, Eni Mozambique was also awarded operatorship of Block5A-A, adjacent to block A5-B, with a 59.5% stake. Other partners are Sasol (25.5%) and ENH (15%).
A farm-out agreement enabling Qatar Petroleum to acquire a 25.5% participating interest in Block A5-A, reducing Eni shares to 34%, is pending authorization by the Mozambican authorities.
Source: offshoreenergytoday.com
Why Most Refineries In sub-Saharan Africa Fail To Report Profits
On annual basis, millions of dollars of tax-payers money are spent on oil refineries within sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in the name of repairs and turn-around maintenance. Yet these refineries are unable to work close to installed capacities, forcing the region to continue importing almost all the refined oil products it consumes.
These refineries have failed to run efficiently and profitably to be able to meet the energy needs of its citizenry. For instance, records from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) shows that between 2017 and 2018, the country’s three refineries made a total loss of approximately $740 million. And in a related development, Ghana’s 45,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery made a loss of over $20 million from a single transaction in November 2018 when it attempted to refine one million barrel of crude from Nigeria.
Lately, it is rare to find a domestic refinery in SSA reporting profits and sustainability, compared to their peers in more liberalized markets. This phenomenon has been blamed on corruption, mismanagement, ownership structure, bureaucracy, pricing regime, funding and technical factors et cetera.
But irrespective of the rationale, refineries basically make their profit from the difference between the price of crude refined and the sale price of the products produced, referred to as crack spread. The crack spread is a good approximation of the margin a refinery earns, reporting as negative if the price of refined products falls below that of crude oil.
And so to be internationally competitive, refineries leverage on their operational efficiency, since they have little or no control over the price of their input or their output.
Economies of Scale
Economies of scale and efficiency are important variables in refinery profitability. The facility size does matter, as it creates an opportunity to spread fixed costs (e.g.maintenance, labour, insurance, administration, currency depreciation) over many barrels. And since the refining sector within the oil industry have the slimmest profit margins due to the expense of the refining process, and that they have little or no influence at all over the price of inputs or the outputs; refineries must rely on operational efficiency for their competitive edge through constant innovation, upgrading and optimization of capacity to produce more outputs from fewer inputs.
As a result, key factors such as refining capacity, capacity utilization rates, and complexity (configuration) have been identified as ultimately influencing the profitability of refineries, aside supply, demand, location and leadership et cetera.
Refining capacity refers to the given capacity of total crude charge input which a refinery is built to handle before the crude is converted into other consumable products. Utilization rates shows the extent to which the installed refining capacity is used to refine crude oil. It is the relationship between the actual output produced with the installed refining capacity, and the potential output which could be produced with it, if capacity was fully utilized. Complexity is a decisive factor in the type of crude oil a facility can refine and the quality of refined products produced. It literally refers to its ability to process a wider range of crude oils types into value-added products, and the flexibility to adjust to changing markets and local fuel specifications.
Refining Capacity
Facilities with larger refining capacity (size) are more efficient, better able to withstand cyclical swings in business activity and spreads fixed costs over a larger number of produced barrels. Most refineries in the Middle East, Canada, Asia, Europe, and the United States are typically large in size, ranging from 100,000 bpd to 1.2 million bpd, and capable of producing high quality products at much lesser prices, relative to the refining capacities recorded in SSA which ranges between 10,000 bpd and 210,000 bpd.Taking a refining capacity of 100,000 bpd as a leading-order benchmark for economic refineries in a liberalized market, it is obvious that a large number of existing and planned refineries in SSA cannot be economic and profitable. To the extent that while new refinery projects are pronounced each year as capacity addition, almost all fail to progress beyond the initial project announcement as they fail to attract the required investment from the private sector; thus leaving the huge finance cost solely on government to bear.
The unattractiveness in the smaller projects are due to the commissioning of several world-scale refineries in especially Asia and the Middle East which the smaller ones cannot favorably compete with; as the global refining sector trends towards fewer, but larger refineries.
Utilization Rate
Compared to refineries in Asia, Middle East, Europe, Canada, the United States, and North Africa that recorded a utilization rate of between 73% and 91% in 2017, Sub-Saharan Africa refinery throughput rates averaged 776,000 bpd through 2017, with a corresponding overall capacity utilization of 49.5%; down from 54.2% in 2016, as a result of erratic and unpredictable operations. Whereas refinery operation rates remain higher in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and North Africa (NA), West and Central Africa (WCA) generally experienced much lower operation rates. Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Niger, Gabon, Angola, Cameroun, and Congo refineries operated between 56% and 88% in 2017. The three State refineries in Nigeria utilized just between 14% and 24% of capacity; with Ghana operating under 2% of capacity.
The rationale for the unscheduled plant outages that have impacted refinery capacity utilization rates in SSA are familiar stories of mechanical problems, lack of feedstock, delays in delivery of feedstock, lack of ullage, delay in receiving spare parts for routine maintenance, and power supply failure. Subsidies on fuels have also contributed to the low capacity utilization at some refineries in the region, especially those in Nigeria. In its 2014 Africa Oil and Gas Report, KPMG noted that problems in the refining industry on the continent includes poor maintenance and operational problems, aside theft and corruption.
Higher refining capacity utilization rates are necessary because they results in higher production of refined products over a given period, and directly influences the revenues of refining segments. Since the refinery business involves high fixed costs, higher capacity utilization rates remains a key factor that drives profitability. Generally, a sustained 95% utilization rate is considered optimal as rates above that drives costs to rise due to process bottlenecks. A rate below 90% suggests either that some units are down for planned or unplanned repairs or that production was reduced following a drop in profit margins or demand.
Complexity
A simple refinery (“topping” refinery) is essentially limited to basic crude oil distillation; for separating the crude oils into refined products, but not meant to modify its natural yield patterns. A hydro-skimming refinery is also quite simple, and is mostly limited to processing light sweet crude into gasoline, and not heavy oil. It allows for meeting Sulphur specifications, but unable to modify the natural yield patterns of the crudes. By contrast, a complex refinery entails expensive secondary upgrading units such as catalytic crackers, hydro-crackers and fluid cookers to modify and improve the natural yield patterns of crudes. These refineries are configured to process a wider range of crude oil types, treat residual oils and converts them to lighter products, process bitumen from oil sands, adjust to changing markets and local fuel specifications, have a high capacity to crack and coke crude ‘bottoms’ into high-value products, and removes Sulphur to meet environmental requirements.
The complexity influences the input cost, the unit output, and the revenue stream; thus impacting the profitability of a refinery, as a highly-complexed refinery is associated with lower costs than a low-complexity refinery because it can process cheaper crude oil. Additionally, highly complex facilities produces more of light fuels such as Naphtha, Jet fuel, Gasoline, and gases which are more expensive than heavier fuels. In other words, complex and flexible refineries generates cost savings by taking advantages of the price differences between heavy and light crude oils, and more valuable light products. And a refinery’s capability to adjust its product yields to meet changes in demand has a huge impact on its profitability. Most U.S. refineries, just like the most recent refineries elsewhere (Asia, Middle East, South America) are already conversion or deep conversion refineries. However, this is not the case for existing refineries in SSA, which are mostly topping, and hydro-skimming types.
Conclusion
The global refining industry is witnessing a change in investment patterns, with a strong growth in investment for capacity expansion, and for the upgrading and modernization of facilities to produce more outputs from fewer inputs, aside meeting strict environmental requirement.
Serious refiners are relying on operational efficiency to gain competitive edge since they have little or no control over the price of their input or their output. They have understood that profitable operations that deliver adequate returns on investment and ensures sustainability are a function of a complex set of variables such as refining capacity, capacity utilization rates, and complexity (configuration).
Written by Paa Kwasi Anamua Sakyi, Institute for Energy Security © 2019
The writer has over 22 years of experience in the technical and management areas of Oil and Gas Management, Banking and Finance, and Mechanical Engineering; working in both the Gold Mining and Oil sector. He is currently working as an Oil Trader, Consultant, and Policy Analyst in the global energy sector. He serves as a resource to many global energy research firms, including Argus Media.
As a result, key factors such as refining capacity, capacity utilization rates, and complexity (configuration) have been identified as ultimately influencing the profitability of refineries, aside supply, demand, location and leadership et cetera.
Refining capacity refers to the given capacity of total crude charge input which a refinery is built to handle before the crude is converted into other consumable products. Utilization rates shows the extent to which the installed refining capacity is used to refine crude oil. It is the relationship between the actual output produced with the installed refining capacity, and the potential output which could be produced with it, if capacity was fully utilized. Complexity is a decisive factor in the type of crude oil a facility can refine and the quality of refined products produced. It literally refers to its ability to process a wider range of crude oils types into value-added products, and the flexibility to adjust to changing markets and local fuel specifications.
Refining Capacity
Facilities with larger refining capacity (size) are more efficient, better able to withstand cyclical swings in business activity and spreads fixed costs over a larger number of produced barrels. Most refineries in the Middle East, Canada, Asia, Europe, and the United States are typically large in size, ranging from 100,000 bpd to 1.2 million bpd, and capable of producing high quality products at much lesser prices, relative to the refining capacities recorded in SSA which ranges between 10,000 bpd and 210,000 bpd.Taking a refining capacity of 100,000 bpd as a leading-order benchmark for economic refineries in a liberalized market, it is obvious that a large number of existing and planned refineries in SSA cannot be economic and profitable. To the extent that while new refinery projects are pronounced each year as capacity addition, almost all fail to progress beyond the initial project announcement as they fail to attract the required investment from the private sector; thus leaving the huge finance cost solely on government to bear.
The unattractiveness in the smaller projects are due to the commissioning of several world-scale refineries in especially Asia and the Middle East which the smaller ones cannot favorably compete with; as the global refining sector trends towards fewer, but larger refineries.
Utilization Rate
Compared to refineries in Asia, Middle East, Europe, Canada, the United States, and North Africa that recorded a utilization rate of between 73% and 91% in 2017, Sub-Saharan Africa refinery throughput rates averaged 776,000 bpd through 2017, with a corresponding overall capacity utilization of 49.5%; down from 54.2% in 2016, as a result of erratic and unpredictable operations. Whereas refinery operation rates remain higher in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) and North Africa (NA), West and Central Africa (WCA) generally experienced much lower operation rates. Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Niger, Gabon, Angola, Cameroun, and Congo refineries operated between 56% and 88% in 2017. The three State refineries in Nigeria utilized just between 14% and 24% of capacity; with Ghana operating under 2% of capacity.
The rationale for the unscheduled plant outages that have impacted refinery capacity utilization rates in SSA are familiar stories of mechanical problems, lack of feedstock, delays in delivery of feedstock, lack of ullage, delay in receiving spare parts for routine maintenance, and power supply failure. Subsidies on fuels have also contributed to the low capacity utilization at some refineries in the region, especially those in Nigeria. In its 2014 Africa Oil and Gas Report, KPMG noted that problems in the refining industry on the continent includes poor maintenance and operational problems, aside theft and corruption.
Higher refining capacity utilization rates are necessary because they results in higher production of refined products over a given period, and directly influences the revenues of refining segments. Since the refinery business involves high fixed costs, higher capacity utilization rates remains a key factor that drives profitability. Generally, a sustained 95% utilization rate is considered optimal as rates above that drives costs to rise due to process bottlenecks. A rate below 90% suggests either that some units are down for planned or unplanned repairs or that production was reduced following a drop in profit margins or demand.
Complexity
A simple refinery (“topping” refinery) is essentially limited to basic crude oil distillation; for separating the crude oils into refined products, but not meant to modify its natural yield patterns. A hydro-skimming refinery is also quite simple, and is mostly limited to processing light sweet crude into gasoline, and not heavy oil. It allows for meeting Sulphur specifications, but unable to modify the natural yield patterns of the crudes. By contrast, a complex refinery entails expensive secondary upgrading units such as catalytic crackers, hydro-crackers and fluid cookers to modify and improve the natural yield patterns of crudes. These refineries are configured to process a wider range of crude oil types, treat residual oils and converts them to lighter products, process bitumen from oil sands, adjust to changing markets and local fuel specifications, have a high capacity to crack and coke crude ‘bottoms’ into high-value products, and removes Sulphur to meet environmental requirements.
The complexity influences the input cost, the unit output, and the revenue stream; thus impacting the profitability of a refinery, as a highly-complexed refinery is associated with lower costs than a low-complexity refinery because it can process cheaper crude oil. Additionally, highly complex facilities produces more of light fuels such as Naphtha, Jet fuel, Gasoline, and gases which are more expensive than heavier fuels. In other words, complex and flexible refineries generates cost savings by taking advantages of the price differences between heavy and light crude oils, and more valuable light products. And a refinery’s capability to adjust its product yields to meet changes in demand has a huge impact on its profitability. Most U.S. refineries, just like the most recent refineries elsewhere (Asia, Middle East, South America) are already conversion or deep conversion refineries. However, this is not the case for existing refineries in SSA, which are mostly topping, and hydro-skimming types.
Conclusion
The global refining industry is witnessing a change in investment patterns, with a strong growth in investment for capacity expansion, and for the upgrading and modernization of facilities to produce more outputs from fewer inputs, aside meeting strict environmental requirement.
Serious refiners are relying on operational efficiency to gain competitive edge since they have little or no control over the price of their input or their output. They have understood that profitable operations that deliver adequate returns on investment and ensures sustainability are a function of a complex set of variables such as refining capacity, capacity utilization rates, and complexity (configuration).
Written by Paa Kwasi Anamua Sakyi, Institute for Energy Security © 2019
The writer has over 22 years of experience in the technical and management areas of Oil and Gas Management, Banking and Finance, and Mechanical Engineering; working in both the Gold Mining and Oil sector. He is currently working as an Oil Trader, Consultant, and Policy Analyst in the global energy sector. He serves as a resource to many global energy research firms, including Argus Media. PDS Asked My People To Bring Their Bills For Reduction But Some Refused-Krobo Paramount Chief
Nene Sakite II(seated) in a handshake with John-Peter Amewu(right), Energy Minister of Ghana
The Paramount Chief of Manya Krobo Traditional Area, Nene Sakite II, is in shock as to why his subjects were protesting against the Power Distribution Services (PDS), despite the latter’s repayment plan to ease the payment of their outstanding electricity bills.
According to him, about two years ago, when some residents of Kroboland complained of exorbitant electricity bills, there was a stakeholders’ meeting and ECG, then, alluded to that and so promised to rectify the anomaly, which they did.
He said those who went to the offices of ECG and now PDS, had their bills reduced proportionally and wondered why some of his subjects refused to do same, but decided to fight, leading to a commotion in the area.
Addressing the Energy Minister, the sad looking Konor told his guest that they had not rested on the issue, saying that they had been meeting all the time.
He said all the stakeholders had held another meeting with a whole lot of people from around to put their heads together to find lasting solutions to the pressing issue.
“We are all concerned about high tariffs. Yes. When this thing happened about two years ago, ECG and now PDS, did confirm that there was a mistake. They found a lapse somewhere, and they were correcting it, so we all had to send our bills and anybody who suspected anything, needed to send their bills. Quite a number of people did and their payments went down substantially.
“I know there are some people who have not had the opportunity yet to bring their bills, so I am urging all Krobos to bring their bills to PDS to be looked at. It is very important that…I will prefer people will bring their bills, and when they go there and nothing is done about it, then, we will know what our response should be.
“If you don’t send your bills over there and there is a problem, I don’t know how we are going to solve it. Some people are doing it, some are not. I am just pleading to my sons and daughters that we are not going to rest until we are able to get to the bottom of this to get the problem resolved. We are all working hard.”
Ghana: Low Data Quality Disincentive To Attracting Oil Giants In Bidding Process – Amewu
John-Peter Amewu, Energy Minister of the Republic of Ghana
Energy Minister John Peter Amewu has said significant data gaps and low data quality are disincentives to attracting major oil giants in Ghana’s oil and gas bidding process.
According to Mr. Amewu, the recent bidding process for some oil blocks in the Western Region has not been satisfactory as a result of challenges including gaps in the legislative instruments as well as low quality of data on the blocks.
Mr. Amewu said, “Our basins are largely not de-risked, significant data gaps and low data quality still exist, and many companies continue to site our fiscal regime as disincentives. The recent results of Ghana’s first licensing round, although not satisfactory in terms of the response rate, has confirmed the fears about a developing industry and the risk associated with frontier areas.”
The Minister was speaking at the legislative review stakeholder meeting held in Accra last Friday.
Interacting with stakeholders Mr. Amewu said, “It is clear to us that you have serious concerns about the legal, regulatory and fiscal environment governing the oil and gas industry. As a country, we also have concerns about the operations of industry players, and therefore our policies and regulations have been designed to maximize value for the country and our people.”
He added, “However, we cannot both remain stuck to our positions whilst there is great potential for win-win arrangements.”
“As a government committed to private sector development, we are prepared to change course. We are determined to formulate and implement market-friendly policies to make Ghana competitive.”
He added, “This is particularly important because oil and gas projects have become very expensive, upstream investments are not increasing faster, and the threat of the green revolution to the prospects of hydrocarbon-based economic development, have led us to reconsider our strategy for the accelerated growth of our oil and gas industry.”
He, therefore, urged the stakeholders to make input into the review process so that government can have a concrete strategy in attracting major oil and gas players into the country.
The nonexistence of reliable data and low level of documentation on exploratory fields continue to have a negative impact on the quest by the government to bargain higher returns from global oil exploration companies.
It will be recalled that some 14 oil and gas firms expressed interest in the first licensing and bidding process for some oil blocks in the Western basin but some of these companies including ExxonMobil pulled out as a result of poor data.
The situation has compelled the Ministry of Energy to conduct a strategic legislative review for the oil and gas industry.
The review process began with stakeholders and industry players seeking to examine the government’s new policy to accelerate growth in the sector to help meet its target of one million barrels per day.
PDS-Krobos Impasse Over Electricity Bills: The Inside Story
Nene Sakite II, Konor of Manya Traditional Council
Contrary to what the public has been made to believe that the recent happenings in the Manya Krobo area has to do with exorbitant electricity bills or fight for free electricity allegedly promised by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, energynewsafrica.com can state on authority that the underlying issue is not electricity bills as being bandied about.
This portal can state that the issue of electricity bills or supposed free electricity allegedly promised by Dr Kwame Nkrumah was used as a vehicle by those behind the United Krobo Foundation to achieve a certain agenda, which, we can say for now that, has failed.
Information available to energynewsafrica.com from a grapevine indicates that half of the six divisional councils which form the Manya Krobo Traditional Council have some bone of contention with Nene Sakite II, who is the Konor of the Paramountcy.
The divisions, which currently have issues with the Konor, include Dom, Manya and Piengwua.
Our sources indicated that these divisional chiefs have tried to use several means before the electricity issue and having failed, have now latched onto the alleged exorbitant electricity bills to fan discontent in Krobokand
Checks conducted by this online indicate that the Krobos had been paying for electricity long ago until the United Krobo Foundation, formerly known as the Voice of United Krobo Force, birthed a claim that they were promised free electricity by Dr Kwame Nkrumah and by that, started inciting the gullible Krobos to refuse to pay for electricity.
According to our grapevine sources, when the United Krobo Foundation (UKF) came with this claim, the Konor challenged the group to prove its claim before he supported them, but the group failed to give concrete evidence by way of MOU.
Our sources said because the Konor did not support the idea, the divisional chiefs, which are against him allegedly, teamed up to instigate violent clashes in the area so that they would turn around and claim that the Konor had failed in ensuring that there was peace in the area, thereby pushing for his removal from the stool.
Interestingly, the agitations are emanating from only the areas that have issues with the Konor.
It is, therefore, not surprising that none of the leadership of the towns such as Kpongunor and Yohe have not condemned the intolerant and unlawful acts of the youth, whose actions are giving the entire Kroboland a sour publicity.
It is public knowledge that the then ECG had series of engagements with all the stakeholders in the area to come to terms with them and see how best they could repay their accumulated bills.
Despite the flexible repayment terms the then ECG offered these agitating residents, they refused to adhere to the terms because they apparently knew the agenda they had kept under the carpet.
According to documents available to this portal, at a point the United Krobo Foundation demanded that the then ECG cancelled all the electricity bills they owed from 2014 to 2017, but their demands were rejected.
The question to ask is: Why did the United Krobo Foundation ask for the cancellation of almost four years’ electricity bills, when they know that it could not be possible? Is it because they have an agenda, and so those demands they made? If there were no agenda, why would they now accept to pay all the outstanding debts, something they had refused earlier?
A journalist, who is abreast with issues in the Krobo area, spoke to this portal, admitting that although he was aware of some fracas between some of the divisional chiefs and the Paramount Chief, he could, however, not confirm whether the so-called outrageous electricity bills were being used as a vehicle to fuel the chieftaincy ‘battle’.
Energynewsafrica.com’s Michael Creg Afful, who was in the Krobo area, on Sunday, gathered that the paramountcy sought the support of some political figures to intervene to resolve the matter but they declined to dabble in chieftaincy issues.
Interestingly, energynewsafrica.com was present when Energy Minister John-Peter Amewu visited Odumase to commiserate with the family of Thomas Partey, who lost his life in the course of the recent clashes, and also see Nene Sakite II, Konor of Manya Krobo Traditional Area.
Addressing the Energy Minister, the visibly distraught looking Konor told his guest that about two years ago when some residents made allegations that their electricity bills were on the higher side and protested, the then ECG convened a meeting in which it acknowledged the anomalies and promised to correct them, which they did.
He continued that the company came up with a road map which had flexible repayment plan, explaining that those who took their electricity bills to ECG were given reduction, but others also refused.
“We have not been resting on this issue. We have been meeting all the time. All the stakeholders, and as a matter of fact, tomorrow (today) afternoon, we are holding another meeting with a whole lot of people from around and we want to put our heads together to find lasting solutions to the issues we have been talking about.
“We are all concerned about high tariffs. Yes. When this thing happened about two years ago, ECG and now PDS, did confirm that there was a mistake. They found a lapse somewhere, and they were going to correct it, so we should all bring our bills and anybody at all who will suspect anything, should bring their bills. Quite a number of people did and their payments went down substantially.
“I know there are some people who have not had the opportunity yet to bring their bills, but I am urging all Krobos to bring their bills to PDS to be looked at. It is very important that…I will prefer people will bring their bills, and when they go there and nothing is being done about it, then, we will know what our response should be.
“If you don’t bring your bills over there and there is a problem, I don’t know how we are going to solve it. Some people are doing it, some are not. I am just pleading to my sons and daughters that we are not going to rest until we are able to get to the bottom of this to get the problem resolved. We are all working hard…the stakeholders, the leadership and representatives of the Regional Minister, everybody involved, and that is what I like about this, and very soon we will see better results.”
Below is the previous road map
US Tells Hong Kong To Lookout for An Oil Tanker Carrying Iranian Oil
The United States has urged Hong Kong to be on the lookout for an oil tanker carrying Iranian oil presumably that may be on its way to China, in violation of US sanctions against the Middle Eastern country, according to Reuters.
China has historically been Iran’s largest crude oil customer, although China has significantly increased its crude oil purchases from Saudi Arabia since the onset of US sanctions.
The oil tanker, known as the Pacific Bravo (formerly Silver Glory), was originally headed to Indonesia, Refinitive Eikon data showed, according to Reuters, but changed course on Monday to head toward Sri Lanka.
The Pacific Bravo flies under the Liberian flag, but a senior US official claims the oil tanker is owned by China’s Bank of Kunlun, which is the official handler of money between China and Iran. Bank of Kunlun is owned by CNPC’s financial arm, CNPC capital.
“Anyone who does business with this ship, the Pacific Bravo, would be exposing themselves to U.S. sanctions,” the senior official said, adding that the US will “enforce our Iran sanctions quite aggressively and quite consistently.”
The news comes as Indian news outlet ThePrint reported on Tuesday that India would ultimately resume purchases of Iranian crude oil despite the sanctions. India is Iran’s second-largest crude oil purchaser.
While India and China may be bold enough to thumb their noses at US sanctions on Iran’s crude oil, they may have difficulty finding willing insurers and shipping companies to do the same.
Iran has been consistently adamant that the United States would be unable to drive its oil exports to zero, and has engaged in covert shipments of oil and fuel, including forging documents to subvert the United States’ plan to restrict its oil exports.
Source: Oilprice.com
Occidental Aims To Sell Anadarko Assets As Debt Jumps With Deal
Occidental Petroleum hasn’t closed the acquisition of Anadarko yet, but analysts are already speculating about which Anadarko assets Occidental could divest to cut part of the debt it has taken on from the transaction and to focus on the core assets after the deal—Anadarko’s prime U.S. shale acreage.
The sooner Occidental delivers on its non-core asset sales, the sooner it can start consolidating complementary assets with Anadarko to achieve synergies and regain some favor with investors, shareholders, and the market, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analysts and bankers tell Reuters.
When Oxy announced earlier this month that it had entered into a deal to buy Anadarko—outbidding Chevron—Occidental said it “expects to reduce debt over the next 24 months through free cash flow growth, realizing identified synergies and executing a planned portfolio optimization strategy with $10-15 billion of divestitures over the next 12-24 months; $8.8 billion of which has already been agreed through the transaction with Total.”
The deal with Total, however, may not go as smoothly as initially expected, after Algeria’s Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab said over the weekend that the North African country would not allow Total to acquire Anadarko’s assets, because Algeria’s government had not been consulted on the matter and is now ready to exercise its pre-emption right.
Algeria quickly came down off that stance, with its energy minister acquiescing enough to say it was open to a “good compromise” for a Total/Anadarko deal, according to S&P Global Platts.
According to analysts who spoke to Reuters, Occidental’s most likely asset sales could be Anadarko’s pipeline business and the assets in the Gulf of Mexico. Anadarko’s GoM position may be worth at least US$6 billion, and potential buyers could be some of the biggest players with experience in the Gulf of Mexico such as Exxon, Shell, Chevron, and Total, analysts tell Reuters.
If the deal with Total for Anadarko’s African assets goes through and Oxy sells the offshore assets, it would likely reach its US$10-15 billion asset sale target, Matt Sallee, portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital Advisors, told Reuters.
When Occidental approached Anadarko in late April with a bid countering Chevron’s, rating agency Moody’s said that the proposed deal would add almost US$40 billion of debt to OXY’s capital structure. Moody’s placed OXY under review for downgrade, noting that if the acquisition closes and crude oil prices remain supportive, “OXY would likely emerge from the review with a weakly positioned investment grade rating.”
Source: Oilprice.com
S.Africa: New 140MW Wind Farm Enters Construction Phase
Enel Green Power RSA, has begun construction of its 140MW Oyster Bay wind farm, in the Kouga Local Municipality, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
The construction of Oyster Bay, which is Enel’s fourth wind project in the country, will involve an investment of approximately 180 million euros.
Antonio Cammisecra, Head of Enel Green Power (EGP), said: “With the start of construction of the fourth wind project in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, we are continuing to contribute to the socio-economic development of the area through our zero-emission energy and initiatives to create shared value.
“These initiatives include the innovative model implemented at the Oyster Bay construction site, as well as the sustainability activities focused on scientific and technical education in the area around the project. Looking ahead, we will continue to harness South Africa’s abundance of renewable resources, creating a virtuous circle of sustainable energy generation, education and development.”
Once fully up and running, due in the second quarter of 2021, the 41-turbine Oyster Bay is expected to generate around 568 GWh per year, avoiding the annual emission of around 590,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
The wind farm will be supported by a 20-year power supply agreement with the South African energy utility Eskom, as part of the South African government’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP) tender, which awarded in April 2015 a total of five wind projects for 700MW to the Enel Group in its fourth round.
EGP will use innovative tools and methods to build this wind park, such as advanced digital platforms and software solutions to monitor and remotely support site activities and plant commissioning, digital tools to perform quality controls on site and smart tracking of wind turbine components as well as an active safety system.
These processes and tools will enable swifter, more accurate and reliable data collection, improving the quality of construction and facilitating communication between on-site and off-site teams.
In addition, the company has committed to ensure job creation in the community surrounding Oyster Bay, while also prioritising education, a key driver of socio-economic development, by supplying schools with clean energy through mini-PV systems, awarding scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects to local students and supporting school feeding programmes in the Kouga municipality.
Source: esi-africa.com
Ethiopia:Renewable Energy Programme Targets To Install 1,000MW
The World Bank’s board of executive directors have approved $200 million Renewable Energy Guarantees Programme (REGREP) to mobilize International Development Association (IDA) guarantees under a Multi-Phased Programmatic Approach (MPA).
The programme will support the government of Ethiopia’s ongoing power sector reforms and leverage private sector financing for renewable energy generation.
REGREP will support the development of over 1,000MW of greenfield solar and wind energy Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects in Ethiopia, including the World Bank Group Scaling Solar initiative.
“REGREP comes at this critical juncture and signals the government’s commitment to comprehensive power sector reforms and a private sector led renewable energy development programme that has the potential to be one of the largest in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Rahul Kitchlu, senior energy specialist at the World Bank.
The REGREP marks the first IDA guarantees under deployment in Ethiopia. Enabled by the 2018 Public-Private Partnership Proclamation, this programme reflects a new way of doing business in the energy sector in Ethiopia – transitioning from continued public-financing towards private sector led competitively tendered procurement of new renewable generation capacity.
Structural transformation in Ethiopia
The programme is fully aligned with the World Bank’s Country Partnership framework for FY18—FY22.
It will foster structural transformation for growth by enhancing private sector financing of infrastructure projects; build resilience and inclusiveness by increasing supply of electricity sustainably and help to manage the impact of climate change through diversification of energy sources.
“With the support of the World Bank Group, this programme will create a platform for much-needed private sector participation in the crucial energy sector by lowering the risks of investing in Ethiopia,” said Carolyn Turk, World Bank country director for Ethiopia, Sudan and South Sudan
“The programme has the potential to leverage over $1.5 billion in private sector investment,” Turk added.
In line with the Maximizing Financing for Development (MFD) approach, the World Bank Group’s support to Ethiopia’s IPP programme follows a sequenced approach under which financing and technical assistance for policy reforms have unlocked significant opportunities for private sector participation in the power sector.
The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) provided support in terms of resource mapping and validation, as well as technical studies to identify areas for wind development.
Ghana: Accra To Experience Two Days’ Power Outages
Residents in parts of Accra, Ghana’s capital, would experience two days of power outage between Saturday June 1 and Sunday June 2, 2019.
The power outage, which would be from 0700am and 500pm, is to allow the Ghana Highway Authority to implement the expansion of the Tema Motorway intersection to improve on traffic flow in and out of Tema.
It is not clear which specific areas would be affected by the two days’ outage.
A statement issued by the power transmission company, Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo), said the objective of the works is to increase the ground clearance of GRIDCo’s 161kV Volta-Achimota Transmission lines crossing the Akosombo-Tema road and facilitate the implementation of the road project.
ExxonMobil May Land Itself In Hot Water Over Iraqi Exit
Iraq’s Basra Provincial Council is calling on the Iraqi government to take ExxonMobil to task over its decision to evacuate its engineers from its West Qurna oilfield in the Basra province.
Although the council said that Exxon’s evacuation did not disrupt overall production in Basra, Anwar Mudalal, a member of the Council, said that “the Minister of Oil, however, should take legal procedures against the company because it has violated its contract with Iraq,” according to basnews.
Mudalal added that most of the oilfields in Basra are managed by Iraqi officers, and not foreign personnel, thus its resilience to the shocks of a major player such as Exxon pulling its engineering staff out of country—an action that Iraq’s Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban claimed was “unacceptable and unjustified.”
ExxonMobil began to evacuate its engineers working on Iraq’s West Qurna 1 field a couple of weeks ago after the United States ordered the evacuation of all non-essential government employees from Iraq citing security concerns, warning that the US embassy in Iraq would suspend visa services and would have a “limited ability to provide emergency services to US citizens in Iraq.”
Despite Exxon’s untimely departure, Iraq promised just days later that it would raise the oil production from its giant West Qurna 1 field by as much as 50,000 barrels per day.
Currently, the West Qurna 1 oil field pumps around 440,000 bpd. Iraq’s plan is to increase that production to 490,000 bpd.
The news that Exxon was beginning to remove some engineering personnel from the country came at a rather delicate time as Iraq, PetroChina, and ExxonMobil were rumored to be close to signing a $53-billion oil deal that would create a $400 billion windfall for Iraq over the 30-year period of the deal.
Source: Oilprice.com
Ghana: PURC Resolves PDS-Krobo Residents Impasse Over Electricity Bills
Mami Dufie Ofori, Executive Secretary of PURC
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has announced that it has succeeded in resolving the impasse between the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited and some residents of the Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo traditional areas over their alleged outrageous electricity bills.
According to the Commission, it received a formal complaint from the Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo, Hon. Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, following clashes between police and the residents who were resisting disconnection exercise being carried out by staff of PDS.
The Commission said it quickly called for a settlement meeting between the two parties as part of the steps in its complaints resolution process.
A statement issued and copied to energynewsafrica.com explained that the Commission played a mediation role between the two parties and finally resolved the complaint with the following road map towards amicable settlement.
(i) PDS should ease their stand and suspend the disconnection exercise for now.
(ii)The MP and Assembly Members who represented the people at the meeting asserted that, the residents have agreed to settle their outstanding bills and will continue to pay subsequent bills as and when they fall due.
(iii) PDS has agreed to reschedule the debts of customers for a payment period of at least six (6) months based on the merit of each individual case.
(iv) Customers who owe should at least start making some payments to show commitment for reconnection and rescheduling of their bills, while PDS also consult with senior management and move in to restore power to all affected areas.
FULL STATEMENT
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) on Friday, May 24, 2019 successfully mediated and settled the impasse between the Power Distribution Services (PDS) Ghana Limited and some Residents of the Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo traditional areas.
The Commission upon receipt of a formal complaint from the Member of Parliament for the Lower Manya Krobo, Hon. Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, quickly called for a settlement meeting between the two parties as part of the steps in its complaints resolution process.
The meeting was attended by the complainants (the MP and some Assembly Members of Lower Manya Krobo Municipal Assembly), the PDS represented by the Regional General Manager and Selected staff of the Tema Region and the PURC represented by the Greater Accra Regional Office.
The Commission played a mediation role between the two parties and finally resolved the complaint with the following roadmap towards amicable settlement.
PDS should ease their stand and suspend the disconnection exercise for now.
The MP and Assembly Members who represented the people at the meeting asserted that, the residents have agreed to settle their outstanding bills and will continue to pay subsequent bills as and when they fall due.
PDS has agreed to reschedule the debts of customers for a payment period of at least six (6) months based on the merit of each individual case.
The MP, Assembly Members, Chiefs and Opinion leaders should take the necessary steps to create a peaceful and enabling environment within the area for PDS staff to have access to customers’ meters to pick current readings in order to generate the actual bills for them.
Customers who owe should at least start making some payments to show commitment for reconnection and rescheduling of their bills, while PDS also consult with senior management and move in to restore power to all affected areas.
Aside the District Office, PDS is to set up an ad hoc customer service center in the Krobo land to aid in the quick resolution of these cases.
Customers who have billing issues are to visit PDS for redress and debt rescheduling plans based on individual cases and merit.
Prior to the settlement meeting, PDS had already rescinded the 70% upfront payment before reconnection for customers whose debts are overdue and would therefore reschedule the debts for a minimum of six months based on individual cases and merit.
Also, PDS has cleansed the customer data using the CMS software to arrive at the outstanding debt of about GHs 84 million instead of GHs 195 million within the affected communities. This reduction was not a waiver but a correction of the bulk and estimated bills.
The Commission will therefore monitor closely the implementation of this roadmap and will facilitate further meetings if the need be to ensure that these issues are fully resolved.
The PURC is committed in resolving issues between the regulated utilities and customers.
The general public is therefore encouraged to promptly report all misunderstandings with electricity and water service provision in their areas to PURC for an amicable resolution.