Page 8 - AfrOil Week 18 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

This figure could rise to 15,000 bpd if yields at during testing. It has yet to be full explored, even
Block 15/06 rise to 150,000 bpd in the medium though 2D and 3D seismic data have been col-
term as anticipated, it said. (Italy’s Eni is acting as lected from sections of the licence area.
operator of the project and has a stake of 36.84%, Once the transaction is complete, equity in
while Sonangol has 36.84% and SSI Fifteen, an the Block 23 project will be divided between
Angolan firm, has 26.32%.) Sungara (40%, operator), Afentra (40%) and
With respect to Blocks 23 and 27, the state- Sonangol (20%).
ment said that these assets “also provide upside As for Block 3/05, Afentra said it had
value” but offered no further details. arranged to take a 20% stake in the produc-
tion-sharing contract (PSC) covering this site.
Afentra: Blocks 3/05 and 23 (That PSC was originally due to expire in 2025,
Meanwhile, AIM-listed Afentra did offer some but it has been extended until 2040 as a pre-con-
information about its own purchase of a stake dition to the deal with the AIM-listed firm.)
in Block 23, a 5,000-square km offshore site in The shallow-water site is home to eight
the Kwanza basin. It said it had agreed to pay mature oilfields discovered by Elf Aquitaine
$500,000 for a 40% non-operated interest in (now part of France’s TotalEnergies) in the
the licence area, which it described as a “highly 1980s. It held about 100mn barrels of crude in
prospective deepwater exploration and appraisal proven and probable (2P) reserves as of the end
opportunity.” of 2021 and yielded 17,000 bpd last year.
Block 23 is already known to hold oil, as it After Afentra completes its acquisition,
is home to Azul, the first deepwater discovery equity in Block 3/05 will be split as follows:
in the pre-salt section of the Kwanza basin. This Sonangol (operator, 30%), Afentra (20%), Mau-
field, which lies in carbonate reservoirs, contains rel & Prom (France, 20%), Eni (12%), Somoil
about 150mn barrels of oil in place (OIP) and (Angola, 10%), NIS-Naftagas (Serbia, 4%) and
yielded about 3,000-4,000 bpd of light crude INA (Croatia, 4%). ™

Galp reportedly mulling sale

of upstream assets in Angola

ANGOLA GALP (Portugal) is considering the possibil- emphasised that talks of a sale were still in the
ity of unloading its upstream assets in Angola, early stages and that Galp was not yet committed
Bloomberg reported on Friday, April 29. to this course of action.
Sources familiar with the matter told the A spokesman for the Portuguese company
news agency that Galp was mulling this option declined to comment on the matter when con-
because it was keen to streamline and optimise tacted by Bloomberg.
its oil and gas portfolio. The company has deliv- Galp has followed other European oil compa-
ered marketing documents to potential buyers, nies in branching out into other types of energy
said the sources, who asked to remain anony- projects, especially renewable energy. However,
mous on the grounds that the matter was private. it still has an extensive upstream hydrocarbon
They did not name any possible investors or portfolio that includes non-operating stakes in
say when a sale might take place. Indeed, they a number of Angolan projects.

The Portuguese company has both exploration and production licences in Angola (Image: Galp)

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 04•May•2022