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1. Libya will launch its third international licensing round in September with awards to be made around the end of the year. The round had been put back as new chairman of National Oil Co, Shukri Ghanem, settled in to his post. He said, "We are currently deciding the blocks to be offered," adding that the blocks will be awarded through a "free bidding process" and not through directly negotiated agreements. Libya offers great potential for new oil strikes because only about 25% of its oil and gas acreage is covered by exploration licenses and most of the country has not been explored using modern techniques. Analysts expect the country to offer more than 100 new areas containing at least 360 blocks in the next few years. In the first round held last year US companies won most acreage as a reward for their government's willingness to allow Libya back into the international fold. Ghanem said that this time: "the problems have been solved with the US and its companies are very interested in working in Libya ...we will give no special preference to particular companies (in the third licensing round)... neither to the US nor to any other country."
2. Hydro has signed up for seismic on its first ever operated acreage in Libya . The Norwegian firm has awarded Geofizyka Krakow a contract for 621 miles (1,000 km) of 2-D seismic acquisition in Area 146 , Hydro's first operating license in Libya . This acquisition is part of Hydro's committed work program for the license, which also includes the drilling of two wells. Hydro has a 100% paying interest for exploration activities during the first exploration period. Mobilization for the operations is scheduled to take place on 8 November this year. Area 146 is located in the Murzuk Basin approximately 559 miles (900 km) south of Tripoli , not far from the Chad border with Libya .
3. Hunt Oil has awarded a rare 3-D seismic survey contract offshore Senegal . The firm has given out a contract for a 772-sq-mile (2,000-sq-km 3-D survey to GCC. The survey is designed to validate several potentially significant prospects and a number of leads identified by Hunt based on existing 2-D seismic data in addition to identifying additional prospects. It is scheduled to begin in December 2006. GCC has just completed a survey on the adjacent Rufisque block for the Edison Group. The seismic will be shot on the giant Sangomar-Rufisque block which covers 5,784 sq miles (14,981 sq km). The acreage is held 70% by Hunt and 30% by Australia 's FAR which has gradually been building up a portfolio in Africa 's frontier offshore. Until last year there were only a few companies involved in the country: Edison, Tullow, Fortesa and Maurel & Prom. However PetroSen has since confirmed the awards of a series of blocks. Dubai-based Al Thani Corp. signed exploration- and production-sharing contracts for the Cayar Offshore , Cayar Offshore Profond , Senegal Offshore Sud and Senegal Offshore Sud Profond blocks while fellow Emirates-based company Kampac signed up for the 10,363-sq-mile (26,840-sq-km) onshore Louga block.
4. Niger has adopted new mining and oil exploration laws that will give the government a stake in companies operating in country and scrap tax breaks aimed at attracting investors. The country has proven oil reserves of 300 million bbl but it has not found a commercially viable way of getting the crude to the Gulf of Guinea or the Mediterranean for export. Under the new laws, the government will take a stake in mining and oil exploration companies operating in semi-desert Niger , although it did not specify how large the stake would be. Exploration rights will be cut to 20 years from 30 years on a reduced geographical area. Extra tax will be levied and in certain cases, tax breaks initially aimed at attracting investors will be cut or scrapped. Under the new laws, permits covering research and exploration and the transport of oil by pipeline would be limited and taxes raised, according to Reuters. Wedged between oil producers Algeria and Nigeria , impoverished Niger wants to find more oil to make export commercially viable.
Algeria 's state energy company Sonatrach signed a deal last year with Niger to search for oil. Malaysia 's Petronas has also been exploring a concession near the border with Chad as part of a joint venture with ExxonMobil. State giant China National Petroleum Corp. has two vast concessions and Nigeria and Algeria are still investigating the long-fabled TransSaharan gas pipeline which would traverse Niger to provide an outlet for West African gas in the Mediterranean . China 's CNPC will spud the first in a rare three well exploration program in the landlocked African state of Niger in October. The ship carrying the drilling rig for the back-to-back drilling program on the Tenere concession in Niger departed from China last week, destined for Benin . The first well is to be named Saha-1 and is expected to be drilled in the southwest corner of the Tenere Trough, to an approximate depth of 11,810 ft (3,600 m). The second well, to be named Fachi West-1 will be drilled close to the graben center, to the north of Saha-1 and southwest of the 1970s-vintage Fachi-1 well. The location of the third well in this will be chosen after completion of a seismic acquisition campaign which is currently underway. The exploration was supposed to start earlier but CNPC has been forced to buy 20 specialized desert transport vehicles to transport the equipment due to tight supply. In March last year, Petronas made the first oil discovery in Niger for many years. The firm made the find in the Agadem Block 1 permit with the Jaouro-1 exploration well. The block is in the Termit Basin about 621 miles (1,000 km) east of Niamey , the capital. With no existing pipeline infrastructure in the landlocked state, oil companies involved in the country are hoping that the potential TransSahara pipeline from Nigeria to Algeria gets the go ahead. UK firm Penspen is currently conducting a front-end engineering and design on the project and any future discoveries could then be tied into this line.
5. Chad's oil minister said his country is planning an oil licensing round next year for around 20 blocks. "This is what we are targeting," Mahamat Nasser Hassane told Dow Jones. "It could change, but we are planning to announce this by the end of the year."
He said Chad is currently producing 170,000 b/d of oil and is targeting 400,000 b/d by 2010. Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003 with the completion of the US $4 billion pipeline linking its oilfields to Cameroon.
6. Australia's Range Resources is so keen on Puntland that it is looking to buy out its minority partner in the acreage. Range has reached agreement with Consort Private to get a 6-month option to acquire the latter's 49.9% carried interest in the contract of work for the exploration and development of Puntland's mineral and hydrocarbon resources. The government only recently reached a settlement over licensing with the neighboring Transitional Federal Government of Somalia ( TFG ). Range had previously been told by the TFG that its deal was invalid as it had negotiated with the government of Puntland.
However the company now says the problem has been solved and that it holds the rights to the whole of Puntland. "The option allows Range to rapidly pursue the next significant stage of its development in Puntland. With Range now having the ability to own and control 100% of the key exploration and development areas of Puntland, Range believes that significant progress will be made in the next few months from both a capital raising and joint venture/farm-in perspective," it said.
7. Afren's appraisal of two fields offshore Nigeria has been delayed until the fourth quarter of this year. Appraisal and development drilling on the shallow water prospects was originally set to start using the Seadrill-7 jackup this month, however this has now been set back. At least one of the wells will be on the Okoro and Setu fields for which the UK-listed Africa specialist signed up with Amni International. The pair are undeveloped oil and gas fields in OML 112 in shallow water and were awarded to Amni in 1993 as part of the Nigerian government's indigenous licensing program. The fields have combined estimated recoverable reserves of 30 million to 60 million bbl and are expected to flow in excess of 15,000 b/d when full combined production is achieved.
Facilities will be installed to tie in to the existing local infrastructure. First production is due to start in 2008. The other well may be drilled on another shallow water marginal field - Ogedeh in OML 90 . Recoverable reserves here are put at 5 million to 15 million bbl of crude. Afren has also closed the private placement of US $50 million in bonds which will be used to fund the firm's ongoing investment in its diversified portfolio of assets.
8. Sao Tome and Principe and Nigeria are unlikely to decide when the next licensing round for their joint development zone will be held until early to mid-2007. Carlos Gomes, chairman of the Sao Tome-Nigeria Joint Development Authority, told reporters that studies to determine the scale of the round are likely to be finalized around mid-2007 and a firm date on the round will be announced thereafter. "We don't have enough data, especially seismic data, that would allow us to know what type of oil acreage we're dealing with," Gomes said. The zone been divided into 23 exploration blocks with only six having been awarded. The awards were plagued by long delays and accusations of corruption. The only well drilled so far was on the Obo structure in Chevron's highly sought after Block 1 . However, Chevron has kept details of the well sparse saying only that it had found oil and gas but that it was too early to say whether the discovery is commercially viable.
10. Noble Energy bought operatorship of a block offshore Cameroon which neighbors acreage where it will soon be spudding deepwater exploration wells. The firm has taken over PH-77 from ConocoPhillips, marking its first entry into the country. The block covers 1,822 sq miles (4,720 sq km) between the coast of Cameroon and its international boundary with Equatorial Guinea. The license area is contiguous with Blocks O and I in the latter which cover over 1,429 sq miles (3,700sq km) offshore Bioko Island and in which Noble Energy is the technical operator. Last October, Noble announced successful test results from its O-1 ( Belinda ) exploration prospect on Block O. Charles Davidson, Noble Energy's chief executive officer, said, "Our acquisition of ConocoPhillips' interest in PH-77 significantly enhances our West Africa exploration portfolio and will allow us to leverage the knowledge we have gained in Blocks O and I in Equatorial Guinea. PH-77 has a number of prospects that are seismically similar to our Belinda discovery and other prospects soon to be tested on Blocks O and I. To accommodate our expanding opportunities in this area, we have extended our deepwater drill ship contract."
11. Vaalco has lodged its application for a development license for a discovery offshore Gabon. The US independent has put in the application for the shallow water Ebouri discovery in the Etame block after receiving government approval earlier this year. The project is likely to be a single-well development incorporating a remote platform and a dry tree with a tie-back to the Etame FPSO which is 6.8 miles (11 km) to the southeast. Development costs have risen from an estimated US $48 million last year to $79 million and Gulf Island will stand a good chance of winning the platform contract as last year it picked up the single platform deal for the Avouma development, which will also take in the crude from South Tchibala . This too is a tie-back to Etame. However, a series of other Gulf of Mexico contractors are also said to have been approached with Vaalco serious about trying to keep prices down.
12. FirstAfrica Oil has successfully completed a well offshore Gabon that it was forced to sidetrack. The EOV-4 sidetrack was drilled on the East Orovinyare oil field offshore Gabon. EOV-4 could not be tested due to mechanical difficulties and this sidetrack has been drilled to a location 656 ft (200 m) south of the EOV-4 location using the GlobalSantaFe Adriatic VI jack-up rig. The sidetrack encountered no mechanical difficulties and preliminary analysis indicates a gross oil reservoir section of 280 ft (85 m). Drill stem testing from flowed oil at a maximum instantaneous flow rate of 1,704 b/d. The gravity of the oil was measured to be 38-degree gravity API . "The company's field development plan calls for production to start from early next year from four wells producing to a single unmanned platform tied back to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel. The platform construction and additional infrastructure development is moving in parallel with the drilling program and installation of the platform is planned for 4Q 2006," the company said. FirstAfrica Chief Executive Officer Robert Kirchner said, "We are pleased with the progress in our development drilling program which is scheduled to be completed at the end of July. EOV-4 has now been suspended and the Adriatic VI rig is now preparing to drill the EOV-7 development well, the final well in the current sequence of development wells."
13. Tullow Oil has taken over operatorship of a block in Gabon where the first well will be drilled next year. The UK independent has taken operatorship of the Azobe licence from Hess and has a jack-up lined up for a well next year. The block is situated close to the Cap Lopez export terminal, which may facilitate a fast-track development of an undeveloped oil discovery. Tullow will also drill another well on the Kirasseny block next year with the same rig. Late last year it drilled a duster with the Equata prospect on the block. In fact, its last three wells in Gabon have all failed to find commercial hydrocarbons. The Equata well was interesting as it involved Angolan national oil company Sonangol in a rare venture outside its home territory. The Topaze-1 well on was drilled on Kiarsseny in February 2004, but did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.
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