SOUTH AFRICA

According to Reuters, French oil and gas group, Total, through the consultant conducting the environmental and social assessment in Block 11B/12B, SLR Consulting, has written to postpone its application for additional drilling in the offshore gas block.

The postponement is a delay to one of the world’s biggest CO2 emitters, South Africa; which is seeking to reduce its reliance on coal and increase the use of natural gas and renewables in its energy mix.

As over 80% of the power supply in South Africa comes from coal-fired plants, the government was hoping that gas from Total’s fields could be used as feedstock at the country’s ailing 45,000 barrel per day gas-to-liquid refinery at Mossel Bay, which is out of domestic gas feedstock.

Excerpt from the letter dated April 13^th 2021 read: “This letter serves to notify you that TOTAL E & P South Africa B.V. has decided to postpone their application for the additional drilling and associated activities in Block 11B/12B at this time.”

NIGERIA

During an oversight visit of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) to a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO), the Managing Director of the Company, Usman Baba, said it is set to extend its operations to Equatorial Guinea.

The move is to boost its revenue generation capacity, and it is in line with the vision of the NNPC Group’s Managing Director, Mele Kyari’s vision to make NETCO the hub of engineering, procurement and construction in the West African sub-region and a major revenue earner.