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Morocco: Tendrara Gas Sale Agreement Postponed Due to Coronavirus

Supplied by AAWSAT AR
Supplied by AAWSAT AR
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Morocco: Tendrara Gas Sale Agreement Postponed Due to Coronavirus

Supplied by AAWSAT AR
Supplied by AAWSAT AR

British gas company Sound Energy PLC has announced requesting Morocco’s National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) to postpone signing Tendrara Gas Sales Agreement (GSA).

In a statement on Wednesday, the company said that the signing event was scheduled to take place on March 31. However, COVID-19 related travel restrictions and closure of borders have prevented parties from meeting to conclude the deal.

The company announced on October 30, 2019 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with ONEE.

Under the MOU, “the parties have agreed to use their reasonable endeavors to continue negotiations with a view to entering into a binding GSA, incorporating the key terms of the MOU announced in October and construed under Moroccan law, prior to March 31.”

The Company affirmed that the GSA negotiations are ongoing and announced that it is in the process of agreeing a further amendment to the MOU with ONEE to extend the period for negotiations of the final GSA to June 30.

It has licenses for natural gas exploration in the Tendrara natural gas field, on an area of 14.6 thousand square kilometers, in which 10 drilling wells have been excavated so far. Last year, it entered into a 25-year 133.5 km exploitation agreement.

The Tendrara GSA with ONEE aims to supply two power plants in northern Morocco with natural gas. The production capacity of these plants is estimated at 4,000 megawatts.

In late 2019, Sound Energy received approval from Morocco’s authorities to build and operate a new gas pipeline in the country.

The Tendrara Gas Export Pipeline is planned to connect the proposed gas treatment plant and compression station to Gazoduc Maghreb Europe (GME) pipeline.

The pipeline, 120 km long and 20 inch wide, will cross the Matarka Commune (Figuig province) and Merija Commune (Jerada province) to reach the delivery point of the GME.

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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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US Treasury Targets Russia's Gazprombank with New Sanctions

FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A bronze seal for the Department of the Treasury is shown at the US Treasury building in Washington, US, January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank on Thursday, the Treasury Department said, as President Joe Biden steps up actions to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine before he leaves office in January.
The move, which wields the department's most powerful sanctions tool, effectively kicks Gazprombank out of the US banking system, bans its trade with Americans and freezes its US assets, Reuters reported.
Gazprombank is one of Russia's largest banks and is partially owned by Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been urging the US to impose more sanctions on the bank, which receives payments for natural gas from Gazprom's customers in Europe.
The fresh sanctions come days after the Biden administration allowed Kyiv to use US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. On Tuesday, Ukraine fired the weapons, the longest range missiles Washington has supplied for such attacks on Russia, on the war's 1,000th day.
The Treasury also imposed sanctions on 50 small-to-medium Russian banks to curtail the country's connections to the international financial system and prevent it from abusing it to pay for technology and equipment needed for the war. It warned that foreign financial institutions that maintain correspondent relationships with the targeted banks "entails significant sanctions risk."
"This sweeping action will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. "We will continue to take decisive steps against any financial channels Russia uses to support its illegal and unprovoked war in Ukraine."
Gazprombank said Washington's latest move would not affect its operations. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Along with the sanctions, Treasury also issued two new general licenses authorizing US entities to wind down transactions involving Gazprombank, among other financial institutions, and to take steps to divest from debt or equity issued by Gazprombank.
Gazprombank is a conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury said. The Russian government also uses the bank to pay its soldiers, including for combat bonuses, and to compensate the families of its soldiers killed in the war.
The administration believes the new sanctions improve Ukraine's position on the battlefield and ability to achieve a just peace, a source familiar with the matter said.
COLLATERAL IMPACT
While Gazprombank has been on the administration's radar for years, it has been seen as a last resort because of its focus on energy and the desire to avoid collateral impact on Europe, a Washington-based trade lawyer said.
"I think that the current administration is trying to put as much pressure and add as many sanctions as possible prior to January 20th to make it harder for the next administration to unwind," said the lawyer, Douglas Jacobson.
Officials in Slovakia and Hungary said they were studying the impacts of the new US sanctions.
Trump would have the power to remove the sanctions, which were imposed under an executive order by Biden, if he wants to take a different stance, Jacobson said.
After Russia's invasion in 2022, the Treasury placed debt and equity restrictions on 13 Russian firms, including Gazprombank, Sberbank and the Russian Agricultural Bank.
The US Treasury has also worked to provide Ukraine with funds from windfall proceeds of frozen Russian assets.