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King of Spain to open 19th World Petroleum Congress

King Juan Carlos I will officially inaugurate the 19th World Petroleum Congress in Madrid on 30 June. Held under the theme: A World in Transition: Delivering Energy for Sustainable Growth, the Congress will bring together key players from the oil and gas industry worldwide.

Confirmed keynote speakers include Qatar Deputy Prime Minister and Energy & Industry Minister Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Saudi Arabia Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Ali Al-Naimi, OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri and International Energy Agency Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka. They will join nearly 600 speakers, including over 100 CEOs, to deliver presentations on the latest research and developments in the oil and gas industry, addressing future options of fuel supply and delivery, as well as its impact on people and environment.  Email: info@19wpc.com Web: www.19wpc.com


ETHIOPIA: Tender for open blocks

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has invited bids by 15 July for open exploration blocks in the Ogaden Basin and the Abay Basin (AE 136/11). One contract is for Blocks 1, 5, 10 and 14 in the Ogaden Basin in south-east Ethiopia, adjacent to blocks held by Lundin Petroleum, Petronas and SouthWest Energy, the second is for Blocks 2, 3, 5 and 6 in the Abay Basin in the centre of the country. Contact: Ministry of Mines and Energy. Tel: +251 11 646 12 09. Fax: +251 646 34 39, 251 11 646 33 64. Email: kadesse22@yahoo.com

 


Issue 142 • 4 July, 2008

Mali sees brisk interest despite Baraka woes

Baraka Petroleum has been forced to pull out of its Mali blocks because of funding difficulties, but the country whose potential it pioneered is now seeing brisk licensing interest from a wide range of players, writes Rosie Collyer.
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GHANA

Kosmos Energy scores rig funding

Kosmos Energy has signed agreements with Atwood Oceanics and Noble Energy to use the moored semi-submersible rig Atwood Hunter for its deep-water drilling programme offshore West Africa.
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ANGOLA

Gas programme makes progress

Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company (Cabgoc) has installed the Takula gas processing platform (TGPP) on Block 0 offshore Cabinda.
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NAMIBIA

New shareholder on Block 2815

Vancouver-based Universal Power Corporation has entered into a letter of intent to acquire a 30% carried interest in offshore block 2815, which lies immediately to the east of the Kudu gas field, for $1.5m.
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TUNISIA

ETAP goes global

Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières (ETAP) plans to set up an international subsidiary based outside Tunisia.
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Africa Oil Exploration seeks opportunities-

UK-based Africa Oil Exploration Plc (AOC), which listed on London’s PLUS market in January 2008, raising £1.03m, recently bought a 9.68% stake in London-based Wilton Petroleum.
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ALGERIA

Khelil clarifies on bid round

Algiers will offer blocks in the forthcoming bid round “that already have discoveries”, Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil told delegates to the World Petroleum Congress on 1 July.
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LIBYA

Petro-Canada in $7bn investment

Petro-Canada has signed six new exploration and production sharing agreements (EPSAs) with National Oil Corporation (NOC).
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Petroceltic in strategic alliance with Iberdrola

In the latest sign of power companies’ eagerness to secure energy supplies, Ireland’s Petroceltic International has announced a strategic alliance with Iberdrola, with a $55m investment from the Spanish energy company.
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EGYPT

New oil find for Dana Gas

The UAE’s Dana Gas has announced a discovery from a new oil zone in its Komombo concession, marking the first discovery in the company's $170m drilling campaign for 2008.
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UGANDA

More drilling success

Tullow Oil has found oil and gas in a new play fairway with the Ngege-1 exploration well, the second exploration well in the Butiaba region of Blocks 1 and 2.
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Industry Pointers

COUNTRIES AND MARKETS

ALGERIA: Gulf Keystone gas find

ANGOLA: Cabinda South drilling.

LIBYA: Eni charter

MADAGASCAR: Aminex pulls out

MADAGASCAR: Chinese partners

MAURITANIA: RWE farms into onshore

MAURITANIA: Chinguetti drilling

MOZAMBIQUE: Indians plan Rovuma farm-ins

SIERRA LEONE: Elixir completes seismic

TUNISIA: Al Thani rig contract
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Issue 141 • 20 June, 2008

Yar’Adua pushes for Ogoni solution

To much fanfare, Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has announced plans to hand over Royal Dutch Shell’s interests in Ogoniland to Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and bring them back into production.
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Equatorial Guinea gets tough in battle to maximise advantage before reserves run out

In publicly attacking its biggest oil producer and main gas buyer Gabriel Nguema Lima has given voice to concerns that pioneering contracts to develop the industry were too favourable to IOCs, but also that Malabo must do everything possible to maximise its returns as reserves dwindle, writes Jon Marks.
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Pressure grows on resources producers to export and supply fast-growing local markets

Data published in the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy, and rendered into graphic form by African Energy’s David Burles, show how oil, gas and coal production is being increased by the continent’s major resources producers, but also how demand for these inputs is rising from increased domestic consumption as African economies grow.
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LIBYA: Eni converts six EPSA contracts as renegotiations continue

National Oil Corporation has renewed Eni’s six exploration and production-sharing contracts for 25 years from January 2008. The new expiry dates set by the agreement are 2042 for production of oil and 2047 for gas. Eni, Libya’s main foreign operator, said it had signed six EPSA-4 contracts with NOC converting its original agreements to the new standard format. It said the contracts established the terms for future co-operation between the two companies on the basis of a strategic agreement signed last October.
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WESTERN SAHARA (DISPUTED TERRITORY): Tower’s Comet buy out

AIM-listed Tower Resources has bought out Comet Petroleum, a related company which owns 50% of two exploration licences in the disputed Western Sahara (AE 97/19). The Guelta and Bojador licences were awarded in March 2006, following a licensing round organised by the Polisario Front liberation movement’s government-in-exile the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
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Mittal becomes Ophir’s biggest shareholder

Eager to secure new sources of oil, Lakshmi Mittal has taken over from Tokyo Sexwale as Ophir Energy’s biggest shareholder as the company embarks on an ambitious exploration programme.

Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal has taken a 21.2% stake in Ophir Energy following a capital raising worth £168m ($331m) to fund the upstream player’s exploration plans; in the process, Mittal has overtaken the company’s strategic partner, South African black economic empowerment firm Mvelaphanda Holdings, as its biggest investor.
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NIGER: Rebels protest CNPC deal

Tuareg and Toubou rebels have denounced an agreement with a Chinese company to explore the Agadem block in eastern Niger and build a refinery and pipeline, and warned of reprisals if development goes ahead.
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GHANA: Mahogany appraisal results

Jubilee field operator Tullow Oil has announced another success with the Mahogany-2 appraisal well on the West Cape Three Points licence, which flowed at a test rate of 5,200 b/d of 36-degree API gravity oil and 5.3m ft3/d of associated gas. The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,443 metres by the Songa Saturn drillship in water depths of 1,080 metres.
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NIGERIA/REGION: Okoro Setu production starts as Afren unveils more work

Afren and its partner Amni International Petroleum Development Company have announced the start of production from the Okoro Setu project in OML 112. Initial production from the first of two wells drilled to date has commenced at a rate of more than 3,000 b/d of 27º API gravity oil.
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EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Noble, minister upbeat on Benita

Noble Energy has announced flow test results from the Benita oil appraisal well in Block I (AE 137/16). The I-5 well encountered 13 metres of net oil pay from a high-quality Miocene reservoir and yielded flow rates of 6,250 b/d of oil and 5.4m ft3/d of natural gas. Noble said it expected each development well would be able to produce 10,000 b/d.
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GABON: Government plans 2009 round

After several years without a formal offering, the Mines and Energy Ministry plans to organise a licensing round next year for offshore deep water areas.
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Industry pointers

COUNTRIES AND MARKETS

ANGOLA: Cabinda South find

COTE D’IVOIRE: Lukoil plans

DR CONGO: Lotshi survey

EGYPT: RWE gas find in North El Amriya metres.

ETHIOPIA: Tender for open blocks

LIBYA: Talk of Woodside find

TUNISIA: PA Resources spuds Didon well

TUNISIA: Eurogas drills on Sfax permit
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COMPANIES AND PEOPLE

AKER SOLUTIONS: Nigerian contract

MOL: Agreement with Libyan SWF

NOC: Aoun’s move to Shell underlines management change

WAVEFIELD: Big BP contract in Libya
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