Page 9 - AfrOil Week 50 2019

AfrOil
PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil
 Investment in 2020
Also on December 16, the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons said that Equatorial Guinea was likely to attract about $273mn worth of direct investment in the oil and gas sector next year. This is equivalent to almost 20% of total direct investment, which is anticipated to reach $1.4bn.
In a separate statement, the ministry said it had generated these figures after concluding its review of multiple oil and gas operators’ work programmes for the next fiscal year. “The expected investment will support several oil- field projects, aid in the generation of reservoir models and assist in the preparation of drill- ing equipment in identified prospects up until the first quarter of 2021,” it commented. “The investment will also generate a robust amount of direct and indirect jobs in the country’s hydrocarbon sector specifically for citizens of Equatorial Guinea.”
The ministry also identified several of the companies that planned to work in Equatorial Guinea next year. It noted that Kosmos Energy, Noble Energy and Trident Energy all intended to conduct further appraisals of their discover- ies in 2019.
For his part, Obiang Lima described the ministry’s projections as reasons for optimism. “We expect 2020 to be the biggest year of invest- ment in Equatorial Guinea’s hydrocarbons
industryinyears,”hesaid.“Thisisastrongsign of our industry’s enduring attractiveness and will enable us to continue increasing oil and gas production, support local companies and create jobs.” ™
Equatoguinean offshore blocks (Image: Eq. Guinea gov’t)
Total-led group extends licence for Angola’s Block 17
ANGOLA
A consortium led by France’s Total has secured an extension to its production licence for Block 17, located offshore Angola. The block is home to Girassol, Pazflor and other oilfields.
In a statement dated December 16, Total said that the group had signed an agreement on the extension with Angola’s National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) and the national oil company (NOC), Sonangol. The document pushes the expiration date of the licence for Block 17 back to 2045, it said.
The deal also provides for Sonangol to acquire a 5% stake in the project. The remaining equity in Block 17 is now split between Total, the operator, with 38%; Equinor (Norway), 22.19%; ExxonMobil (US), 19% and BP (UK), 15.84%. (According to the press release, Sonangol will acquire another 5% by 2036.)
Additionally, the agreement obligates the consortium to pay production bonuses to the Angolan government. Total did not reveal the details of this arrangement, but it did say that the group would invest $20mn in domestic social programmes independently of its other expenditures.
Total and its partners began production at Block 17 in 2001, and they have stationed four floating production, storage and off-loading (FPSO) vessels – known as Girassol, Dalia, Paz- flor and CLOV – within the licence area. The FPSOs are currently extracting around 440,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), and the consortium hopes to keep yields above 400,000 boepd at least until 2024.
According to previous reports, Block 17 has already yielded 3bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and may hold another 1bn boe in recov- erable reserves.
The consortium said last month that it was preparing to move forward with new explora- tion campaigns and might drill three new wells at Block 17 in 2020.
In the meantime, it said, work is already underway on three short-cycle brownfield projects that may make 150mn boe in new resources available – CLOV Phase 2, Dalia Phase 3 and Zinia Phase 2. Additional brown- field initiatives aimed at extending the lifespan of the Dalia, Girassol, Pazflor and Rosa oilfields are being studied, it added.

Week 50 18•December•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P9