Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

Having been encouraged by the federal government to expand its activities internationally as a means of enhancing its competitiveness among other global companies, North Seleyan Petroleum, Lodamun’s largest crude oil and natural gas company, has revealed that it intended to make a 30 billion LOD, long-term investment into energy infrastructure throughout Keris & Macon, and parts of Seleya. In a press statement issued earlier last week, the company noted that it had completed negotiations with the Hutorian, Dolgavan and Egelian governments on the development and construction of numerous infrastructure projects including a crude oil refinery in Hutori and fuel bunkering facilities in Dolgava and Egelion. Numerous business and energy analysts noted that the company’s statement was consequential, as it ultimately stood against the backdrop of an ever-increasing energy supply amidst renewed efforts by the Harrington Company to source additional energy partners to diversify its import portfolio. The completion of the company’s two floating LNG facilities has spurred increases in fuel transfers from the Keskula field off the Lodamese coast. 

This, when coupled with the renewal of its contract to operate in the Althorcaea Shelf in Hutori, forms part of the company’s rationale for its sudden ‘global expansion’. The Harrington Company, beyond acting as the nation’s virtual clearinghouse for all matters related to trade, also acts as the nation’s quasi-import/export credit agency and has played a central role in establishing streamlined processes for foreign enterprises to become involved in the Lodamese market, albeit to limited success. Newly confirmed Merchant-General Carolyn Mobley noted that the HC would back NSP’s foreign ventures as it sought to place additional emphasis on the historically neglected export-credit side of its operations. “We have recognised that we have remained at the sideline of the global crude oil and natural gas market and have committed to reverse that. We have received major support from the Harrington Company to expand our reach throughout Lodamun’s immediate surroundings. That means we are seeking to go into Keris, Macon and other parts of Seleya. We are committed to positioning NSP as a major player in this market,” the NSP statement read.

Energy analysts have explained that the rationale behind the proposed construction of a crude oil refinery in Hutori can potentially be found in NSP’s broader ambitions to solidify itself in the Hutorian energy market. Douglas Ferrell, an energy economist, noted that the presence of well-established firms such as Carter Energy, made NSPs initial venture in the Hutorian energy market an uphill battle. He explained that as a direct result of this dynamic, NSP had largely kept its operations in Althorcaea Shelf purely on the side of extraction. The company’s “Cornelius” FLNG processing plant had long operated on the shelf, extracting raw natural gas from wells and processing it on the spot, before shipping it to Lodamun directly. “The natural gas in that field made it such that the company could avoid becoming tied down in the crude oil business entirely. It should simply have the Cornelius anchored above a well, extract the natural gas, process it and ship it to Lodamun or wherever directly. I think the refinery means that the company wants to get into crude oil and wants to be able to process a volume greater than what an FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) facility could handle,” Ferrell explained. 

The refinery, according to the NSP statement, is likely to be backed by investments in the construction of crude oil pipelines from the field directly to the refinery itself. “The nature of crude oil refineries is that their viability is nearly wholly dependent on feedstock, that is, a consistent and readily available supply of crude oil waiting to be processed. So it’s not viable for the company’s business in crude oil to be wholly dependent on tankers docking themselves along an FPSO and shipping crude oil to the refinery onshore. Scalability would decline in the long-term, and in the energy sector, the long-term is extremely important,” Ferrell added. Despite this, in a previous statement, the company revealed that it planned to follow up the Cornelius and McGuire FLNGs with two FPSOs, pre-emptively named the Amias and the Boyd.

These two FPSOs’ construction would ultimately be complemented by the construction of fuel bunkering facilities in Dolgava and Egelion. In the case of crude oil from the Althorcaea Shelf (and potentially future ventures in Trigunia), NSP notes that it could extracted directly from wells, processed on the ship and transferred to fuel bunkering facilities in Dolgava and Egelion to be stored for later/future use or sent to Berkwaki for additional processing. In the case of natural gas, NSP also noted that it too could be extracted directly from wells, processed on the ship and transferred to the fuel bunkering facilities where it could potentially be used as maritime fuel. “In essence, they’d be positioning these fuel bunkering facilities in Dolgava and Egelion as refuelling hubs for maritime traffic in the Anantonese and Mad Dog Oceans,” Lonnie Becker, an energy futures trader, commented. NSP has noted that the proposed facility in Dolgava could have a total capacity of around 133,000 cubic meters (m³) whilst the facility in Egelion could have around 145,000 cubic meters and are likely to be diverse in the types of fuel to be stored within. “They’ll likely attempt to align the fuel stored in those facilities with both their objectives and those of the governments of the host nations,” Becker added. As mentioned prior, the Harrington Company is expected to play a major role in financing the proposed venture using its functions as Lodamun’s export-import credit agency to provide NSP with some 10 billion LOD, in long-term funding alongside helping the company negotiate its way through various regulatory procedures in Hutori, Dolgava and Egelion.