INDUSTRY NEWS A REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES IN THE NIGERIA OIL & GAS SPACE COURTESY AFRICAN OIL + GAS REPORT business with its biorefineries, which will be replicated in a network incorporating other African countries", the report highlights. In the same month, ENI completed the phase-out of palm oil as feedstock supply for ENI's biorefineries, with it fully replaced by sustainable raw materials from Africa. The company also launched a study to assess the economic feasibility of building and operating a biorefinery at the Livorno hub (also in Italy, several thousand kilometres from Africa), with a design capacity of 500 kilotonnes/annum. In November 2022, ENI signed several agreements with the Government of Rwanda "to promote high- quality seed production suitable for agri-feedstock, for the production of biofuel in ENI's biorefinery". ENI is in the process of searching for biorefinery sites all over the world, anywhere but Africa. In December 2022, the company started a collaboration with Euglena, a leading Japanese biotechnology firm, and Petronas, Malaysia state-owned oil company, to evaluate the economic feasibility of building and operating a biorefinery complex in the S o u t h - E a s t e r n A s i a n c o u n t r y . A n investment decision is expected to be reached by <strong>2023</strong> with possible completion in 2025 and a targeted processing capacity of up to 650 ktonnes/y of bio-feedstock. The project will leverage Honeywell UOP's EcofiningTM process technology, which was jointly developed by ENI and Honeywell UOP. In December 2022, Versalis acquired from DSM a technology to produce enzymes for second-generation ethanol to be employed at the Crescentino plant to integrate the proprietary Proesa® technology to deliver sustainable bioethanol and chemical products from lignocellulosic biomass. ENI keeps looking all over the world for suitable sites for converting wastes it collects from Africa, into high value products. "As part of the development of the biorefining business, ENI signed definitive agreements with PBF to partner in a 50-50 joint venture, St. Bernard Renewables LLC (SBR), for the biorefinery currently under construction in Louisiana (US). The biorefinery start-up is expected in the first half of <strong>2023</strong>, with a target processing capacity of about 1.1 million tonnes/year of raw materials to produce mainly HVO Diesel”. Seplat Acquires 95% of Abiala Marginal field-Elcrest Seplat Acquires 95% of Abiala Marginal field-Elcrest (45% owned by Seplat Energy) and has entered into an agreement with Naphta Global E&P Ltd for a 95% equity farm-in to the Abiala marginal field. Naphta will have a 5% carried interest. Elcrest will also assume the role of Operator and Technical &Financial Partner in the Elcrest/Naphta Joint Venture. The partners executed Heads of Agreement with a signature bonus of $12Million paid to NUPRC. The transaction represents a consolidation of the Company's strategic position on the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 40 block. Naphta was awarded 100% equity in the Abiala marginal field carved out of OML 40 by the NUPRC in the 2020 marginal field bid round. The marginal field contains 2C gross oil resources of approximately 40 MMbbls, Seplat says in its annual report. The company adds that the deal provides an early monetisation opportunity using existing OML 40 facilities, subject to agreement with NEPL (NNPC E&P Limited, formerly NPDC), which operates the OML 40 Asset. In developing the field, Elcrest is targeting first oil by the end of Q2 <strong>2023</strong> and plans to focus on low-cost development with early monetisation opportunities that leverage existing contractual positions to accelerate the field's development. Seplat Energy will also explore optimising its tax position to the extent possible under the new PIA. The Crucial Sections of the NUPRC's Newly Gazetted Domestic Gas Demand Delivery Obligation Regulations- The first and most important line in the newly gazetted regulations on domestic gas demand delivery, is that a Lessee shall provide -to the NUPRC- information relating to its natural gas reserves and resources, as at December 31st of the preceding year. Then a lessee shall in addition to reporting reserves, provide estimates of the rates at which the marketable natural gas shall be produced, either directly at the measurement point or at any other marketable delivery point. A lessee shall, for gas destined for export and the domestic free market, use such price as may be applicable at the end of the preceding year. A lessee shall report to the Commission volume of tiers 1, 2 and 3 gas that are — (a) connected but not produced or delivered for lack of domestic gas demand or for any other reason stipulated in section 110(10) of the Act ; and (b) not connected to gas infrastructure or connected to such gas infrastructure, but with insufficient spare capacity for the delivery of the gas. The domestic gas demand requirement for gas under the proved developed non-producing and the proved undeveloped, shall include gas that is not specifically destined or committed for any purpose at the time of reporting and the volume shall be separately identified. Where the lessee reports low-Btu resources, it shall inform the Commission of the marketable gas price level at which the resource is projected to be commercially viable. A lessee shall for reporting purposes of low-Btu resources, include proved reserves of low-Btu gas. A lessee shall report to the Commission the — (a) low estimate marginal contingent resources where the lessee, or any party constituting the lessee, is already providing such information in its annual report or any communication with its parent company, shareholders, or other parties ; and (b) marketable gas price levels at which such resources are projected to be commercially viable. Proved gas reserves in the deep offshore shall be included in the estimates for export, and where otherwise, be allocated to the free market and be separately identified. (13) A lessee shall report proved developed producing reserves under the domestic gas demand regulation. NAPENEWS JUNE <strong>2023</strong> 50
INDUSTRY NEWS A REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES IN THE NIGERIA OIL & GAS SPACE COURTESY AFRICAN OIL + GAS REPORT NAPENEWS JUNE <strong>2023</strong> 51
Change language