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Equatorial Guinea names winners of 2019 licensing round
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
THE government of Equatorial Guinea named the winners of its 2019 licensing round last week, saying that it had awarded concessions for nine blocks to seven international companies.
In a statement, the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons said that the bidding round had attracted expressions of interest (EoIs) from 53 companies around the world. Some 17 of these 53 companies submitted official offers for the oil- and gas-bearing blocks, it reported.
The ministry went on to say that Rus- sia’s Lukoil had been the top bidder for Block EG-27, formerly known as Block R, a site in the Niger Basin. Meanwhile, WalterSmith Petro- man Oil (Nigeria) and Hawtai Energy (China) will team up to develop Block EG-23, another block in the Niger Basin that is home to the Estaurolita natural gas discovery. Noble Energy (US) won rights to EG-09, a block in the Duala Basin, and Africa Oil will take EG-18 in the Rio Muni Basin. Elsewhere in the Rio Muni Basin, the EG-03, EG-04, EG-19 and P blocks will be developed jointly by Vaalco Energy (US) and Levene Energy (Nigeria).
The ninth block has been awarded to GEPet- rol, the national oil company (NOC) of Equa- torial Guinea. GEPetrol will retain a stake in the other eight blocks involved in the bidding round, the ministry said in its statement.
Malabo has yet to sign any final agreements for any of the nine sites. The ministry’s next step will be to negotiate production-sharing con- tracts (PSCs) with the winners of the auctions.
Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocar- bons, said that the bidding process had been beneficial for Malabo. “This demonstrates that Equatorial Guinea can attract significant inter- est of investors in the petroleum community,” he commented. “Hopefully next year we will attract even more investments to our country.”
Equatoguinean officials have said that the
next licensing round will take place in 2020. According to the ministry’s statement, Malabo also signed a co-operative agreement with Rosgeo, a state-owned Russian company, and the Venezuelan NOC PdVSA last week. The deal, which was concluded separately from the bidding round, provides for GEPetrol to work with the two companies to study a prospective
site on the country’s mainland section™
NOC head warns of further production stoppages after retaking El Feel oilfield
The 2019 bidding round covers nine blocks (Image: Equatorial Guinea gov’t)
PERFORMANCE
LIBYA
MUSTAFA Sanalla, the chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp. (NOC), said last week that his company might have to suspend produc- tion at El Feel (also known as Elephant) and
other oilfields in the event of further fighting at upstream sites.
He was speaking after NOC regained control over El Feel, which lies in the Murzuq Basin.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 48 04•December•2019