LNG

UK maritime security consultants, Dryad Global, have reported a growing number of attacks by armed groups against shipping and oil and gas platforms in Mexican waters south of LNG shipping routes in the Gulf of Mexico, a problem previously associated with nations like Somalia.

The latest report from Mexican waters of the GoM said the Mexican-flagged Offshore Supply Vessel “Natalie” was boarded while conducting normal operations in the vicinity of the Odin offshore platform, located 12 nautical miles northeast of Coatzacoalcos, a major port city in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz.

Coatzacoalcos is also a port where future deliveries of US LNG and ethane, derived from shale gas, will be delivered under agreements between US and Mexican companies.

“It is understood that the vessel was boarded early morning within hours of darkness. A channel 16 broadcast received from the vessel stated: ‘we would like to inform you that at this moment pirates are getting on board the ship which is near the Odin’ platform,” said the message monitored by Dryad.

Reports reaching Dryad indicate that the crew was subjected to violent armed boarding and robbery of personal belongings.

Dryad said that in 2020 there has been a “significant increase” in maritime crime and piracy in the waters offshore the Mexican states of Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz.

The Mexican LNG import terminal at Altamira is just north of the troubled areas where the incidents have taken place.

“Armed criminal groups have been reported to target and rob commercial vessels, oil platforms and offshore supply vessels in the Bay of Campeche area in the southern Gulf of Mexico,” said Dryad.

Such activities were commonplace offshore Somalia in northeast Africa in the 1990s, though on a much larger scale and required the deployment of western naval forces to counter the pirates.

The Somalian piracy problem was depicted in a movie based on the true experiences in 2009 of “Captain Phillips”, master of the US-flagged cargo vessel “Maersk Alabama”, which was hijacked.

The US Maritime Administration recently issued an advisory about possible attacks in the southern GoM, called 2020-008-Southern Gulf of Mexico-Vessel Attacks.

The US report details such events and actions to be taken when faced with threats of piracy and armed robbery.

“The pirates-robbers targeting offshore infrastructure and vessels in this area typically operate in small groups of between 5 and 15 individuals aboard several boats,” said the MARAD advisory.

“The attackers are reportedly armed with an assortment of weapons including assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, machetes, knives and tools,” it added.

“They are known to use violence to ensure compliance and prevent resistance,” it stated.

Around 20 fishing vessels and 35 oil platforms and offshore supply vessels have been targeted since January 2018 in the Bay of Campeche area alone of the southern GoM.

“Attacks recorded to date have involved the discharge of firearms, crew injuries, hostage taking and theft. At least five of these attacks occurred in April 2020,” said the UK report.

The last LNG carrier to come under attack was off West Africa on 28th of December 2019 and that incident was reported by Dryad.

A single speedboat with 10 armed men on-board fired on the “LNG Lokoja”, while the vessel was heading for the Bonny Island export plant in Nigeria.

However, the vessel conducted evasive manoeuvres causing the attack to fail some 70 nautical miles northwest of Sao Tomé and Príncipe, the island nation and former Portuguese colony.

The 148,300 cubic metres capacity vessel was met by the Nigerian Patrol vessel “Defender VI” and the Portuguese Navy vessel “Zaire” and was taken to port under escort.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of the Federal Republic of Somalia has launched the former war-torn nation’s first offshore licensing round on a coast where in the territorial waters of countries further south large natural gas finds have been made with LNG export projects planned.

Due to the global travel restrictions caused by of the Cobid-19 pandemic, the Somali Ministry decided to launch the licensing round roadshow virtually.

Somalia is attempting to returning to the international fold after decades of being known mostly for piracy, terrorism and violent militia activity.

The nation was helped in the run-up to the exploration and production licensing offer with a roadmap drawn up by ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

The 2020 Somali licensing round features up to seven blocks that are up for the bidding process and are estimated to be among the most prospective areas for hydrocarbons.

An independent partial assessment of the 15 Somali blocks have found there may be a minimum of 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent in shallow and deepwater, which is easily accessible so long as the area remains free of piracy.

Countries south of Somalia on the Indian Ocean Coast such as Tanzania and Mozambique have made substantial offshore resource discoveries, especially of natural gas, with the Mozambicans able to plan world-class LNG projects.

This current licensing round will open on August 4 this year and will be closed March 12, 2021.

Somalia’s virtual launch of the licensing round was seen as a landmark moment in the development of Somalia’s natural resources, which will be transformational for the country’s development.

According to the Ministry, Somalia will be aiming for reliability and transparency for the oil and gas companies willing to be investors and who are prepared to do business with the Somali Government.

“A ground-breaking Petroleum Law completed its legislative process earlier this year,” said a statement.

“The Revenue Sharing Agreement enshrined in The Petroleum Law indicates how future revenues from the development of the industry will be shared between The Federal Government, the Federal Members States and their local communities,” it added.

The Ministry said the agreement has now been “road-tested” with the first revenues, which were recently generated from rental payments from Shell and ExxonMobil.

“The opportunities for the international exploration and development majors are enormous,” said Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, the Minister of Petroleum.

“Somalia is committed to attracting investment and promoting partnership and business in all segments of the oil and gas industry value chain,” he added.

Life in Somalia is returning to normal after decades of being a failed state and depicted in films such as “Black Hawk Down”, covering the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993 between US and United Nations troops and Somali militia.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia was illustrated in another movie based on the true experiences in 2009 of “Captain Phillips”, master of the US-flagged cargo vessel “Maersk Alabama”, which was hijacked.

Somalia itself hopes that sanity has returned to the nation.

The Shell-ExxonMobil oil and gas roadmap will enable the conversion of prior agreed concessions into Production Sharing Agreements under the provisions of the new Somali Petroleum Law.

It builds on an agreement signed in Amsterdam on 21 June 2019 which led to the receipt of US$1.7 million from the Shell-Exxon joint venture from historical surface rentals and other incurred obligations on offshore blocks.

In adherence to the Revenue Sharing Agreement, this payment was re-distributed among Somalia’s Member States for independent allocation.

Analysts said the relationship between the states and the Federal government remains challenging.

Somaliland maintains it is an independent state, while Puntland is part of the federal set-up though with its separate policies.

The analysts have added that there was no doubt that the worst was behind Somalia, with piracy under control for the better part of a decade. Actual and attempted attacks by Somali pirates peaked at 237 incidents in 2011.

The International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau, which specializes in fighting crimes against maritime trading, has reported that piracy fell steeply to just a handful of incidents in each of the last six years.