Infrastructure

AfDB approves $210m for Nigeria’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones

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On Monday, the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a $210m loan to co-finance Phase 1 of Nigeria’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone Programme. This is the one of the AfDB’s most ambitious operations in supporting African agriculture to date.

The facility is made of an AfDB loan of $160m along with an Africa Growing Together Fund loan of $50m. It is provided with co-financing from other partners such as the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, in the amount of $538.05m.

Phase of Nigeria’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone Programme targets the states of Cross River, Kaduna, Imo, Kano, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo and the country’s Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. It aims at unlocking the country’s agriculture sector potential by promoting industrialization through the development of strategic crops such as cassava and rice, and beef and dairy livestock.

“The project areas account for 19% of Nigeria’s total land mass and will benefit 50.4 million people,” the AfDB said. “The zones are designed to concentrate production, processing, storage, transport and the marketing of commodities – like cotton or maize to increase productivity and competitiveness and reduce logistics costs.”

In total, the AfDB plans to establish 18 such zones across Africa as part of its Feed Africa Strategy.

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Savannah Energy signs agreements to acquire ExxonMobil and PETRONAS’ assets in Chad and Cameroon

After months of negotiations and site visits, Savannah Energy has announced the execution of share purchase agreements (SPAs) worth $626m with ExxonMobil and PETRONAS to acquire their oil & gas assets in Cameroon and Chad. The deals will see the British independent gaining a combined 75% controlling interest in the Doba Oil Project and 70% indirect controlling interest in the Chad-Cameroon oil export transportation system. Chevron had previously sold its 25% interest in the Doba Oil Project and 21% interest in the pipeline system in 2014 to the Government of Chad for $1.3bn. While negotiations with ExxonMobil had been announced earlier this year, the acquisition of PETRONAS’ interests in both countries was not expected. The transaction will see Savannah Energy expand its African portfolio, which already comprises upstream oil operations in Niger and upstream and midstream gas operations in Nigeria. The ExxonMobil Acquisition – $360m Savannah Energy is acquiring ExxonMobil’s entire upstream and midstream asset portfolio in Chad and Cameroon for $360m. The acquisition will be funded through a mixture of debt and equity/equity-linked financing and the SPA has an economic effective date of January 1st, 2021. Concretely, Savannah Energy is acquiring a 40% interest and operatorship of the Doba Oil Project, an onshore oil business with a production of 33,700 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 2020. It is also acquiring a 40% indirect interest in the Chad-Cameroon oil export transportation system, that comprises the 1,081km Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline and the Kome Kribi 1 floating, storage and offloading (FSO) vessel offshore Cameroon. Last year, the pipeline transportated an average of 129,200 bopd. The facilities have been operating since 2003 and the pipeline remains the only evacuation route for Chad’s oil and is used by several operators. According to Hawilti’s research, the current list of pipeline beneficiaries include China National Petroleum Corporation International Chad, Cliveden, Royalty In Kind, Société des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT), ExxonMobil, Petronas, Petro Chad Mangara, Glencore and Petroleum Chad Company Limited. The PETRONAS Acquisition – $266m Secondly, Savannah Energy is further consolidating its interest in the same assets by also acquiring PETRONAS’ entire upstream and midstream asset portfolio in Chad and Cameroon. The transaction is valued at $266m and the SPA also has an economic effective date of January 1st, 2021. Under this second transaction, Savannah Energy is acquiring an additional 35% interest in the Doba Oil Project and an additional 30% indirect interest in the Chad-Cameroon oil export transportation system. As a result of both acquisitions, Savannah Energy is acquiring a combined 75% controlling interest in the Doba Oil Project and 70% indirect controlling interest in the Chad-Cameroon oil export transportation system. The remaining interests are owned by the national oil companies of Chad and Cameroon. Details on the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

After TotalEnergies, Shell spuds its own high impact deep-water well in Namibia’s Orange Basin

The Valaris DS-10 drillship has spudded the Graff-1 well within Block 2013A (Petroleum Exploration License 39) offshore Namibia. Shell Namibia Upstream BV is operator with a 45% along with partners Qatar Petroleum (40%) and national oil company NAMCOR (10%). Namibia’s PEL 39 has been owned by Shell since 2014 when it acquired Signet Petroleum’s interests in both blocks 2913A and 2914B. It covers about 12,000 km2 on the Namibian/South African maritime border, within the Orange Basin, and remains one of the most prospective acreage in Southwestern Africa. Just two weeks ago, TotalEnergies spudded the Venus-1 well in its block 2913b, also located in the deep-waters of the Orange Basin. Both wells, if successful, could open up a brand-new hydrocarbons province offshore Namibia. Once the Valaris DS-10 completes Graff-1, it is expected to be deployed in the Gulf of Guinea to drill the Jaca-1 exploratory well. The well is located in the Galp-operated Block 6 offshore São Tomé-e-Principe, where Shell is a technical partner. It will be first well to be drilled in the deep-water Rio Muni Basin.