Page 16 - AfrOil Week 33

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

The Dupri Oil chief’s remarks go against recent consultations on the bill with industry players.
statements by Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minis- Nigeria has been trying to pass new legis-
ter of State for Petroleum Resources, who said lation to replace the Petroleum Act of 2004 for
recently that the government was committed more than 10 years. International oil companies
to seeking input from oil and gas companies in (IOCs) say that the lack of an updated oil law has
order to facilitate the approval and adoption of discouraged them from investing in the West
the PIB. African country.
In early August, he indicated during an The PIB has now been submitted to legisla-
interview with Channels Television that Abuja tors, and officials in Abuja hope it will be enacted
had already commenced the process of broad before the end of 2020. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Total resumes drilling offshore Angola

ANGOLA FRANCE’S Total has reportedly resumed Jouny indicated that output levels were still
upstream exploration drilling offshore Angola a source of concern. Total is “studying develop-
after a delay of more than two months. ments” in order to “offset declining production,”
According to Olivier Jouny, the general man- he told Africa Oil & Power. He did not divulge
ager of Total’s Angolan arm, the company has any details of the company’s plans but said Total
restarted exploration activities and will bring wanted to “sustain [its] operated production lev-
more drilling capacity back on stream within the els for the mid-term.”
near future. “The Skyros rig is already on Block Total was not the only international oil com-
32 and the Maersk Voyager is due to restart pany (IOC) to wind down drilling operations
end-August ... We will also restart West Gem- offshore Angola earlier this year. BP (UK),
ini,” he told Africa Oil & Power earlier this week. Chevron (US) and ExxonMobil (US) took sim-
The French company serves as operator at ilar steps, while Italy’s Eni halted drilling at the
fields that typically account for nearly 50% of Agogo and Ndungu sections of Block 15/06. ™
Angola’s oil production, or about 600,000 bar-
rels per day (bpd). In early March, though, it
terminated its contract for Valaris D-8, a drill-
ship owned by K-based Valaris, after learning of
a technical problem on the vessel. It then slowed
the pace of offshore exploration drilling and
idled three other drilling vessels – namely the
Maersk Voyager, owned by Denmark’s Maersk
Drilling; the Seadrill West Gemini, owned by
Bermuda-registered Seadrill, and the Transo-
cean Skyros, owned by Swiss-based Transocean.
At the time, Total explained its decision by
saying it was focusing on existing production
sites in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19)
outbreak. The company had been looking for
new crude reserves as part of a wider effort to
shore up Angola’s declining oil production. Total says the Skyros rig is ready to drill at Block 32 (Image: Total)

Total to spud new well offshore

South Africa by end of August

SOUTH AFRICA FRANCE’S Total and its partners are reportedly a shareholder in one of the companies partici-
gearing up to begin drilling a new well at Block pating in the project, Total is slated to spud the
11B/12B offshore South Africa within the next Luiperd-1 well before the end of August. The
two weeks. well is designed to target a large submarine fan
According to Toronto-listed Africa Energy, prospect.

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 19•August•2020