Page 16 - AfrOil Week 48 2020

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

“This is not [Museveni’s] oil. It is a national the Museveni administration’s handling of oil
resource that must be utilised for the benefit of money. The balance of the country’s Petroleum
all Ugandans,” he asserted. Fund has dropped from UGX300bn ($81mn)
He was speaking around the same time that to UGX87bn ($23mn) on Museveni’s watch, he
Don Binyina, executive director of the Africa said at an event marking the launch of the Cit-
Centre for Energy and Mineral Policy, criticised izens’ Manifesto on Petroleum and Mining. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Eco Atlantic secures new licences for four

sites offshore Namibia

NAMIBIA CANADA’S Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas has the second-largest after ExxonMobil) in a highly
reportedly expanded its footprint in Namibia’s prospective region.”
offshore zone. Colin Kinley, the company’s COO, added:
In a statement dated November 30, the “As the majority stakeholder and controlling
company said it had succeeded in negotiating interest in all of our Namibian blocks, we wel-
the re-issuance of four Petroleum Exploration come leading-edge exploration partners to bring
Licences (PELs) covering acreage in the offshore their contribution to our ultimate ambition of
Walvis Basin Assuming that the Namibian gov- discovery in the country, while also maintain-
ernment approves the extension, it noted, Eco ing our strong independent business values.
Atlantic will have another 10 years to continue We very much appreciate the support of the
work at these sites. Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy and
The statement identified the licence areas as our partners, and we look forward to keeping
Cooper (Block 2012A), Guy (Blocks 2111B and all our stakeholders appraised of developments
2211A), Sharon (Block 2213) and Tamar (Blocks over the coming months.” ™
2211B and 2311A). These four sites cover a total
area of about 28,593 square km and are believed
to contain more than 2.362bn barrels of oil
equivalent (boe) in prospective P50 resources,
it said.
Eco Atlantic acknowledged that it was
the majority shareholder in Cooper, Sharon
and Tamar and also noted that it held a 47.2%
non-operating interest in Guy, which now cov-
ers more than twice the area it did under the
original PEL. As is customary under Namibian
law, the national oil company (NOC) NAM-
COR will retain a 10% non-operating interest in
each of the four blocks mentioned above.
“[In] keeping with the company’s sup-
port of local interests, Eco has negotiated and
established a 5% [working interest] with local
Namibian business partners on each block,” it
added. “Azinam Group also participates in a
minority capacity on the Cooper, Sharon and
Guy Blocks.”
Gil Holzman, Eco Atlantic’s president and
CEO, expressed satisfaction with this new
development. “[Having] the Namibia Ministry
of Mines and Energy acknowledge both our
long-term investment and our contribution to
the fundamental exploration of the region is
very meaningful, both for us as a business and
an explorer,” he said. “Eco has made a signifi-
cant investment in these offshore blocks in the
Walvis Basin to date, and we have been able to
increase our already substantial footprint (now All four licence areas lie offshore within the Walvis basin (Image: Eco Atlantic)

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 48 02•December•2020