Page 14 - AfrOil Week 32 2021
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AfrOil
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
AfrOil
ANGOLA
ANGOLA’S National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) has signed a production-shar- ing contract (PSC) with Total E&P Angola, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies (France), for Block 29 in the Namibe basin.
ANPG announced the signing of the deal earlier this week. It reported that the deal had been finalised on July 30 and then took effect on August 2.
The PSC splits equity in Block 29 between Total E&P Angola, with a 42.9% stake; Equinor (Norway), with 22.8%; Sonangol, the national oil company (NOC) of Angola, with 20%; BP (UK), with 8.8%; and Petronas (Malaysia), with 5.6%. It also names Total E&P Angola as the operator of the project.
Mutombo Dondo, the deputy general man- ager of Total E&P Angola, said earlier this year
that the shareholders were slated to begin explo- ration work at Block 29 in 2021. According to ANPG, the partners have already drawn up and secured approval for their exploration pro- gramme. Total E&P Angola is committed to fol- lowing this programme, which is defined to help assess the hydrocarbon potential of the frontier Namibe basin, the agency said.
Block 29 is a deepwater licence area that lies about 75 km from the coast. It covers a surface area of about 5,700 square km and is located in 1,500- to 2,500-metre-deep water.
ANPG, which acts as concessionaire for Angola’s oil and gas acreage, awarded Block 29 to TotalEnergies in early 2020, following the con- clusion of the country’s 2019 licensing round. That bidding round covered 10 blocks in the frontier Namibe and Benguela basins.
The sixth field within Block G, known as Ceiba, began production in 2000. It is being developed with a floating production, storage and off-load- ing (FPSO) unit that supports 16 active devel- opment wells and 10 water-injection wells. The FPSO also receives oil from the Okume complex
via a 25-km pipeline.
Panoro is a newcomer to the Block G pro-
ject. It acquired its 14.25% stake in the licence area earlier this year, within the framework of a deal to acquire assets in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon from Tullow Oil (UK/Ireland).
ANPG, Total E&P Angola sign PSC for Block 29 in Namibe basin
Armour to resume seismic work in Uganda
UGANDA
AUSTRALIA’S Armour Energy has announced plans to resume a 2-D seismic survey of Kany- wataba, its licence area in western Uganda near Lake Albert.
The company had suspended work at the site in October 2019, informing the Ugandan Min- istry of Energy and Mineral Development that it could not proceed because of severe flooding. It issued a declaration of force majeure with the intent to continue the survey once conditions in the area of operations improved.
Then in April 2020, Armour extended the declaration of force majeure, on the grounds that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had impaired its ability to execute work at Kan- ywataba. Now, though, the Australian company is ready to restart work, in line with the terms of its licence.
In its statement, it said it had notified the ministry that it intended to execute its contract with Teclab Ltd (Rwanda) for a 2-D seismic sur- vey of Kanywataba. “The survey is expected to
take approximately three months to complete in advance of the wet season,” it said.
Armour had secured a two-year extension of EL 1/2017, its exploration licence for Kan- ywataba, in September 2019. However, the Ugandan government has agreed to postpone the expiration of the licence in light of the force majeure declarations, so EL 1/2017 will now be extended“wellintocalendaryear2022or2023.”
It also indicated that the extension would not affect its plans for assigning an 83.18% benefi- cial interest in the Kanywataba project to DGR Global, another Australian firm. The project is currently in the hands of Armour Energy (Uganda) SMC Ltd, which is owned by Armour Energy International, a wholly-owned subsidi- ary of Armour. The parent company transferred the renewed EL 1/2017 to Armour Uganda in October 2020 and has agreed to issue enough shares in Armour Energy International to give DGR Global an 83.18% stake in the subsidiary but will retain a 16.82% stake for itself.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 32 11•August•2021
