Page 9 - AfrOil Week 15 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

The parties have continued to move ahead with are located in Angola’s offshore zone, in depths
negotiations on a sale and purchase agreement ranging from shallow-water to ultra-deepwater.
(SPA), and they hope to finish the document Two of these sites – namely, Blocks 3/05 and 4/05
and wrap up the due diligence process in the – are already being developed. ™
near future, the company reported. It did not
say exactly when the transaction was likely to be
finalised.
Assuming that Afentra does strike a deal with
Sonangol, the statement noted, the acquisition
“would be classified as a reverse takeover trans-
action in accordance with Rule 14 of the AIM
Rules for Companies.”
In the meantime, it said, until the matter is
clarified, AIM will continue to suspend trading
in Afentra’s shares until the company clarifies the
matter, either by publishing an AIM admission
document or by confirming its participation in
the bidding process has ceased.
Afentra submitted its initial non-binding
offers for the two blocks on September 20, 2021.
It was then named as one of two bidders for
Block 23 and one of six bidders for Block 3/05
on October 7, 2021.
Sonangol first announced plans to sell
minority shares in the two blocks last June as
part of a wider effort to unload part of its hold-
ings in offshore projects. The NOC said it was
taking this step in a bid to raise up to $2bn that
it could use to cover the remaining share of its
investment commitments at the sites in question
and to cover its expenses on other projects.
At that time, Sonangol announced that it
intended to sell stakes of up to 8.28% of Block
18, 10% of Block 15/06, 15-20% of Blocks 3/05
and 4/05, 30-65% of Block 5/06 and 30-70% of
Blocks 23, 27 and 31. All eight of these blocks Afentra submitted bids for Blocks 3/05 and 23 last September (Image: Sonangol)

PERFORMANCE
NOC head says Libyan crude oil production

averaged 1.3mn bpd in first quarter of 2022

LIBYA LIBYA’S oil production averaged 1.3mn barrels disruptions. Production has been suspended
per day (bpd) in the first quarter of the current several times and wages of workers has not
year, the head of state-run National Oil Corp. always been paid on time.
(NOC), Mustafa Sanalla, said. Meanwhile, unfavourable weather condi-
The North African country’s 2021 average tions in Libya have also led to the suspension
production was 1.148mn bpd. of oil production and exports. Last month, for
Net income from oil production in the example, the country’s six main oil ports were
last two months of 2021 increased to a record forced to close, as bad weather prevented the
$4.32bn, thanks to the higher than usual global loading of tankers at Brega, Zueitina, Ras Lanuf,
demand that sent oil prices higher, Sanalla said. Sidra, Zawiya and Melita.
He went on to say that the company had Sanalla has said that NOC is determined
secured loans worth LYD6.5bn ($1.38bn) to prevent the collapse of the oil sector, which
to help renovate the oil sector and fix dam- would severely affect the Libyan economy.
aged fields and supplies. Libya’s main oilfields His efforts have borne fruit, as a number of
have witnessed repeated closures as a result of foreign oil firms have started to resume opera-
protests, political power struggles and other tions in Libya.

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