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Oranto Petroleum Invests $500m in South Sudan Oil Block

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  • Oranto Petroleum Invests $500m in South Sudan Oil Block

Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum Limited has said it has signed oil sharing agreement with South Sudan covering the country’s Block B3, earmarking up to $500 million to explore the oil in the region.

In the first three years, Oranto said it would do airborne geophysical surveys in the 25,150-sq km block and assess existing data held by the government and former operators, among other activities.

“Oranto Petroleum will invest $500 million to develop South Sudan’s Block B3, launching a comprehensive exploration campaign starting immediately,” the oil company said in a statement, according to Oriental News.

Since its independence, South Sudan has relied on oil for all income a situation that has significantly compounded the ongoing political and economic instability, due to the fall in crude oil prices.

South Sudan got the lion’s share of the oil when it split from Sudan in July 2011, but its only export route is through Sudan, giving Khartoum leverage and leading to ongoing pricing disputes.

According to South Sudanese officials, production in the past reached as high as 350,000 bpd, but fell after a dispute with Sudan over fees for pumping South Sudan’s crude through Sudan’s export pipeline, which led South Sudan to halt oil production in 2012.

Oil production in South Sudan has, however, been affected by the conflict that erupted in 2013 after a political disagreement between President Salva Kiir and his then deputy, Riek Machar.

Even after restarting production, it never recovered to those levels, but it dropped to 245,000 barrels per day after the outbreak of the civil conflict hindered production in the oil-rich areas of the north.

“We believe the petroleum resources of Block B3 are vast. To reach our target of more than double current oil production, we need committed new entrants like Oranto,” South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth told reporters in the capital, Juba.

“The government is working hard to reinvigorate the petroleum industry in South Sudan by creating an enabling environment for International oil and gas companies to invest and operate. It is up to the oil companies to come in, explore and produce,” he added.

The block is highly prospective, with productive parts of the Muglad Basin to the northwest and estimated reserves in place of more than 3 billion barrels of oil. The block is categorized as low risk, high reward.

Under the EPSA, Oranto will be the technical operator and 90 per cent shareholder of the block, with Nilepet holding a 10 per cent stake.

“It’s an honor to formalize our entry into South Sudan with this EPSA,” said Chief Arthur Eze, founder and chairman of Oranto Petroleum.

“Our company is at the vanguard of African firms exploring and developing African assets. This is the beginning of a long-term collaboration with Nilepet, the people of South Sudan and our partners to bring to light the immense potential of Block B3. Oranto is committed to an aggressive exploration work programme that will benefit all stakeholders,” he added.

The 120,000-square kilometre Block B was reportedly split by the government into the B1, B2 and B3 blocks in 2012. In Block B3, Oranto would work alongside the B1 and B2 partners, which include Total.

South Sudan is an established, world-class petroleum producing region, whose territory includes a large part of the Cretaceous rift basin system that has proved petroliferous in Chad, Niger and Sudan.

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Crude Oil

Oil Trades Lower on US Hurricane Ease, China Economic Worries

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Oil prices dropped in the international market on Friday as traders overlooked supply disruptions from a hurricane in the US Gulf of Mexico just as moves by China to help its economy failed to impress some oil traders.

The global benchmark Brent crude futures fell by 2.3 percent or $1.76 to $73.87 per barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures settled at 70.35 per barrel, down by 2.7 percent or $1.98.

In the world’s largest oil-producing country, the US, producers shut in more than 23 percent of oil output in the US Gulf of Mexico by Friday to brace against Hurricane Rafael.

According to the US National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory, the storm weakened to a Category 2 hurricane on Friday, and this eased worries and oil prices.

Meanwhile, concerns about China proved to be more than examined even as the government announced a package easing debt-repayment strains for local governments.

However, these measures do little to directly target demand as concerns about weakening demand in China, the world’s largest oil importer, have also contributed to the oil price decline after data showed crude imports in China fell 9 percent in October.

The weakening of oil imports in China is due to weaker demand for oil as a result of the sluggish economic development and rapid advance of electronic vehicles (EVs) in one of the most advanced economies.

Despite Friday’s losses, oil prices gained more than 1 per cent week-over-week taking support from the emergence of Mr Donald Trump as the next president of the US and the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

Oil producers are looking forward to fewer regulations on crude production under a Trump presidency, meaning higher oil supply and consequently lower prices.

On the flip side, a Trump administration also means more sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan barrels, which could cut oil supply to global markets and potentially boost prices.

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Brent, WTI Crude Prices Rise in Response to Expected Trump’s Policies

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Crude Oil

Oil prices rose nearly 1 percent on Thursday as the market considered how US President-elect Donald Trump’s policies would affect supplies.

Brent crude oil futures settled up 71 cents, or 0.95 percent at $75.63 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 67 cents, or 0.93 percent to $72.36.

Prices gained support from expectations that Trump’s incoming administration may tighten sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

On Wednesday, the election of former Republican President Trump initially triggered a sell-off that pushed oil down by more than $2 as the US dollar rallied.

A strong Dollar makes oil expensive and this typically leads to a drop in prices.

In his first term, Mr Trump put in place harsher sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan oil, limiting supply and supporting oil prices.

However, his successor, Mr Joe Biden briefly rolled back the sanctions but he would later reinstate them.

Such a move would raise the cost of China’s imports, piling pressure on a refining sector grappling with weak fuel demand and tight margins.

However, China and Iran have built a trading system that uses mostly Chinese Yuan and a network of middlemen, avoiding the Dollar and exposure to US regulators, making sanctions enforcement tough.

However, analysts say that the US government has been reluctant to take steps that would remove supply from the global market as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Also supporting prices, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point at the close of its policy meeting on Thursday.

The US Federal Reserve said it will continue assessing data to determine the pace and destination of interest rates as officials reset tight monetary policy to account for inflation that has slowed markedly in the past year and is nearing the US central bank’s 2 percent target.

Interest rate cuts typically boost economic activity and energy demand.

Support also came as some companies cut supply in the US due to Hurricane Rafael. According to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), over 22 percent equivalent to 391,214 barrels per day, of crude oil production was shut in response to the hurricane.

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Three Oil Companies Ask Court To Stop NMDPRA From Seizing Their Petrol Import Licences, Accuse Dangote Refinery of Monopoly

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Aliko Dangote - Investors King

In response to Dangote Refinery N1 billion suit, three oil companies including Matrix Petroleum Services Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, and AYM Shafa Limited, have prayed the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) from reviewing or withdrawing their import licenses.

The oil companies also urged the court not to block them from importing petrol in the interest of energy security and promotion of healthy competition in the Nigerian oil and gas sector.

Dangote Refinery had approached the court and filed and a N100 billion suit in damages against NMDPRA for allegedly continuing to issue import licenses to NNPCL, Matrix, and other companies for importing petroleum products such as Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Jet Fuel (Aviation Turbine Fuel), despite that the refinery is producing the products in quantity that meets Nigerians’ needs.

The refinery also dragged NNPCL, AYM Shafa Limited, A.A. Rano Limited, T. Time Petroleum Limited, 2015 Petroleum Limited, and Matrix Petroleum Services Limited in the suit.

Counsel to Dangote Refinery, Ogwu James Onoja SAN, in the originating summons, dated September 6, 2024, claimed that NMDPRA contravened Sections 317(8) and (9) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) by issuing import licenses for petroleum products.

Onoja stated that such licenses should only be granted in cases of petroleum product shortages and not when Dangote Refinery is meeting the needs of the populace.

According to Onoja, NMDPRA has been discouraging local refiners such as Dangote Refinery by its actions.

Responding to the suit through their written address and counter-affidavit, dated November 5, 2024, and filed by Ahmed Raji SAN, the three oil companies said their businesses do not in any way hamper, disrupt, or harm Dangote Refinery’s operations.

The three defendants claimed the plaintiff allegedly sought to monopolise the petroleum industry in Nigeria, where it alone would control supply, distribution, and pricing.

In the defendants’ affidavit, deposed by Ali Ibrahim Abiodun, Acting Managing Director of AYM Shafa (with the consent and authority of Matrix, A.A. Rano, and AYM), it was stated that the defendants are qualified and capable of being licensed as importers of refined petroleum products under Section 317(9) of the PIA and that their licenses to import such products were lawfully issued by the appropriate authority, NMDPRA.

The deponent claimed that it typically takes an average of two months for Dangote Refinery to fulfill orders and that it rarely meets demand, with trucks waiting for months to be loaded at the refinery.

In contrast, he claimed it takes about three weeks to import petroleum products from offshore refineries.

The affidavit revealed that A.A. Rano’s oil depot in Lagos has a storage capacity of 55,000,000 liters and can load about 200 trucks per 24 hours.

The deponent stated that the company also owns 220 filling stations and another 85 affiliates and leased filling stations.

According to the deponent, AA Rano was one of the first to take delivery of AGO from Dangote Refinery, loading 20,000 MT of AGO on or about April 16, 2024, and has since purchased and loaded additional cargoes totaling approximately 190,000,000 liters.

Despite this patronage, the affidavit claimed that Dangote Refinery has continued to place obstacles that make it difficult for A.A. Rano to purchase products solely from the refinery.

The oil companies called on the court to dismiss the suit.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the matter till January 20, 2025, for a status report.

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