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AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

business new africa bna/IntelliNews

POLICY Congo produces around 300,000 barrels per day to Algerian gas to offset the gas supplies from
(bpd). Russia, which have been affected by the Rus-
Algerian court sentences bna/IntelliNews, June 27 2022 sian-Ukrainian war and the imposing of West-
ern sanctions.
former energy minister to PROJECTS & COMPANIES had already said in November that the country
Algeria’s Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab
20 years in jail is keen to further enhance its presence in the
European gas market by proposing additional
An Algerian court has sentenced former Energy BP to explore King Mariout quantities, noting that Algeria was seeking to
Minister Chakib Khelil to 20 years in jail fol- Offshore block in Egypt’s increase its gas market share in Europe to more
lowing his conviction on corruption charges, than the current 30%.
according to local media reports. West Nile Delta area In April, Italy signed an agreement with Alge-
Khelil served as energy minister during for- ria to raise its gas imports from the North Afri-
mer President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s regime. BP (UK) has been awarded exploration rights can country.
The court also sentenced Mohamed Mezi- to the King Mariout Offshore block in Egypt’s bna/IntelliNews, June 28 2022
ane, ex-head of the national oil company (NOC) territorial waters, following its successful partic-
Sonatrach, to five years in prison on the same ipation in the limited bidding round organised PGS releases additional
corruption charges and his deputy Abdelhafidh by Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS)
Feghouli to six years in prison. in 2021. 3D data for West Africa
The court also fined Khelil DZD2mn As a result, the company now has a 100%
($13,600). working interest in the King Mariout Offshore Transform Margin and
Khelil and several Sonatrach officials had area, which is located approximately 20 km west
been charged with abusing their positions to of the Raven field in the Mediterranean Sea. The Côte d’Ivoire
help the Italian oilfield services firm Saipem block covers an area of approximately 2,600
win a contract to develop the Arzew gas com- square km, in waters ranging from 500 metres to Côte d’Ivoire’s prospective Tano Basin is tar-
plex in Oran, in violation of Algerian laws and 2,100 metres deep. geted with an additional 3,108 square km of 3D
regulations. The block is located within the West Nile seismic data which targets open acreage, which
The court also sentenced two representatives Delta area. As a result, any future gas discover- expands continuous MegaSurvey data coverage
of Saipem in absentia to five years in prison. ies there will have the potential to be developed from Côte d’Ivoire to Nigeria.
However, the Italian firm said it would challenge using existing infrastructure. In partnership with PetroCi and Direction
the decision in Algeria’s supreme court. BP is hoping to leverage existing infrastruc- Générale des Hydrocarbures, PGS has expanded
Saipem was fined in Italy in 2018 for paying ture facilities to carry out resilient and focused the Côte d’Ivoire MegaSurvey, bringing the total
bribes to obtain contracts in Algeria, but the case development projects that serve Egypt’s growing coverage to 33,941 square km of 3D and 31,743
was cleared by an appeals court in 2020. gas market. The company has been active in this line-km of 2D. The various 3D input datasets
bna/IntelliNews, June 28 2022 market for almost 60 years. have been matched, merged and re-binned onto
bna/IntelliNews, June 29 2022 a common grid, resulting in a single, continu-
Congolese oil workers to go Algeria reports discovery of ous volume of full-stack seismic data in the time
domain.
on hunger strike over pay western extension of the prolific Tano Basin and
The Côte d’Ivoire MegaSurvey spans the

Oil workers in the Repubilc of Congo were set to significant gas condensate covers the high-profile Baleine-1X (Eni) discov-
go on hunger strike on Monday (June 27) over deposit in Hassi R’mel ery with preliminary resource estimates of up to
low pay and other demands that have not yet 2.0bn barrels of oil in place and up to 2.4 trillion
been met by the government. Algeria’s state oil producer Sonatrach has discov- cubic feet (tcf) of associated gas in two main Cre-
The workers, many of them employed by ered a significant gas condensate deposit in the taceous reservoir levels. The dataset also occurs
supermajors Eni (Italy) and TotalEnergies Hassi R’mel field in the Sahara Desert, according along-strike of the 2021 Eni Eban-1X discovery,
(France), are asking for wage increases to keep to a statement on June 27. offshore Ghana, which is reported to have found
pace with inflation, and compensation for those The LD2 Lias carbonate reservoir has light oil in an 80-metre thick section of Cenoma-
whose workplaces were shut due to the COVID- reserves of 100-340bn cubic metres of gas with nian sandstones. These discoveries highlight the
19 pandemic. condensate, Sonatrach said, noting that the dis- significant remaining potential of Cretaceous
According to Reuters, which has seen a state- covery is among the largest since 2002 in terms shelf edge play along the margin.
ment produced by the workers union, those of reserves. New Coverage of Open Blocks CI-523,
working at offices and industrial bases in Pointe- Sonatrach has begun development work to CI-525 and CI-804: MegaSurvey regional seis-
Noire will stop work, while people at refineries, confirm estimated volumes and aims to begin mic enables exploration for analogs, the iden-
oil terminals, onshore bases and offshore bases producing in November, at a level of 10 bcm per tification of new prospects, and allows detailed
will hunger strike. day. play analysis from shelf to deep water, along the
“Our aim is to continue until our demands are Algeria is Africa’s top exporter of natural gas entire margin. Five key regional horizons have
satisfied,” union leader Jean Claude Tchibinda is and among the largest in the world, with proven been tied to well and interpreted allowing field-
quoted as saying, noting that salaries had not natural gas reserves of 2.4 trillion cubic metres. scale geological understanding to be placed into
been increased since 2019. Nearly 10% of gas supplies consumed in Europe a basin-wide context and open acreage opportu-
According to the World Bank, West Africa’s come from Algeria. nities to be assessed with confidence.
oil sector accounts for 80% of its overall GDP. Several European countries are reverting PGS, June 28 2022

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