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Issue 298 - 18 April 2015

Cabinet adopts new hydrocarbons bill

Subscriber

A cabinet meeting on 25 March approved a draft hydrocarbons bill that aims to bring Congo’s oil and gas legislation into line with the legal and tax frameworks in other member states of the African Petroleum Producers’ Association. The bill will be submitted to parliament for discussion and adoption. A government statement said the law updates the existing 1994 code, granting the state Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) exclusive rights to mining titles, with the possibility of forming partnerships with local and foreign companies. A local content provision establishes a minimum 15% share for local private companies in production-sharing contracts.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Soco International has postponed a planned well on the Mer Profonde Sud (MPS) Block until 2016. Soco completed a farm-in to the block in 2014, taking 60%, while Sweden’s PA Resources retained 25% and Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo 15%. The Swedish company had been keen to secure a new partner after Murphy Oil pulled out in 2012, arguing that the rest of the block had further exploration potential in a different structural setting and play from the other wells already drilled on the block, targeting reservoirs similar to those producing from fields in Congo and in Angola.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Eni announced the start of oil production from the Nené Marine field on the Marine XII Block on 5 January. The Nené Marine field produces oil from the Djeno pre-salt formation 2,500 metres below sea level, in a water depth of 28 metres. Full field development will take place in several stages and will include the installation of production platforms and the drilling of over 30 wells, with plateau production of over 140,000 boe/d. First phase production of some 7,500 boe/d is transported to Eni’s Zatchi production platform via a 17km subsea pipeline.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Italy’s Eni has announced a successful production test on the Minsala Marine 1 well in the Marine XII Block. The discovery is located 35km offshore and 12km from the recent Nene Marine discovery. During the production test, the well delivered more than 5,000 b/d of oil and 14 mcf/d of gas, from a 37 metre section of the 420 metre oil column identified in the discovery well. The oil quality is 41° API. Eni estimates the potential of the Minsala Marine discovery to be about 1bn boe in place, of which 80% is oil.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Eni has signed a new co-operation agreement with the Republic of Congo, stating its intention to pursue new initiatives in the Congolese coastal basin, which extends from onshore Mayombe to the deep offshore. The agreement was signed in Brazzaville by Congolese hydrocarbons minister André Raphael Loemba and Eni chief executive Claudio Descalzi, in the presence of President Denis Sassou Nguesso and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, during an official visit by the premier.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Further to the signing of a framework agreement in May 2013, Total has concluded an agreement for Qatar Petroleum International to take a 15% shareholding in Total E&P Congo. The $1.6bn increase of Total E&P Congo’s capital will consolidate its financial capacity as it develops the Moho Nord deep offshore project, Total said. First oil from Moho Nord is expected in 2015, with output reaching 140,000 boe/d in 2017. QPI’s main focus is downstream, and its only other sub-Saharan asset is a 20% stake in Total’s Ta7 and Ta8 blocks in Mauritania, acquired in 2007.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Following the departure of Murphy Oil, Sweden’s PA Resources has won a farm-in from SOCO International for the Mer Profonde Sud exploration permit. SOCO will take a 60% operating stake and will drill an exploration well in 2014 or 2015. The exploration permit excludes the Azurite field, which Murphy is in the process of abandoning, having announced in August that the field had reached its economic limit (AE 264/9). PA Resources had been keen to secure a new partner after Murphy pulled out, arguing that the rest of the block had further exploration potential.


Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Swiss oil trader Gunvor Group has increased its stake in Sweden’s PA Resources to 49.96% from 9.9%, following a rights issue in Q3 which raised SEK891m ($140m). Lorito Holdings, owned by the Lundin family, now has 9.9%. PA Resources, which has acreage in Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia, as well as the North Sea, said this year it had run into financial difficulties. As part of a board and management shake-up, former Addax Petroleum new ventures manager Philippe Probst stepped in as interim chief executive in May, then Acorn Oil & Gas and Fairfield Energy founder Mark McAllister was appointed in September to replace him (AE 256/13).

Equatorial Guinea | Congo Brazzaville | Tunisia
Free

Operator CNOOC has made a gas and oil discovery with the E-1 exploration well on the Elephant prospect in the Haute Mer A licence area. Partner Oryx Petroleum said the discovery would be tested in early 2014 as part of a multi-well drilling and testing programme on the block. “Reservoir quality, crude quality and viscosity appear to be better than originally anticipated while the areal extent of the reservoir appears to be slightly smaller than expected,” said Oryx chief operating officer Henry Legarre. “Although subject to testing, the discovery gives us confidence that there is further upside potential and opportunity to expand the prospect inventory in the licence area.”

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Eni has expanded its presence in Republic of Congo, taking a share in the Ngolo Block, part of the onshore Cuvette Basin. The government licensed the block to Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo in July, and Eni will operate the licence in a joint venture with the state oil company. The block, some 350km north-east of Brazzaville, covers an area of over 16,000km2.

Congo Brazzaville
Issue 260 - 09 August 2013

Congo B: Technip contract

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Total has given Technip an engineering, procurement and supply contract for the offshore Moho Nord project. Moho Nord consists of two developments: Moho Phase 1bis and Moho Nord, and this contract is part of the Moho Phase 1bis development, which consists of tiebacks to the existing deep-water Alima floating production unit and the shallow-water N’Kossa platform.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Eni has announced that an appraisal of the Nene Marine-1 well has established reserves of 600m barrels of oil and 700bcf of gas. The structure, which lies 17km offshore, has considerable additional upside that will be evaluated with further delineation wells, Eni said. The discovery well was drilled in 24 metres of water to a total depth of 3,013 metres and encountered a significant wet gas and light oil accumulation in a Lower Cretaceous pre-salt clastic sequence.

Congo Brazzaville
Issue 259 - 26 July 2013

Congo B: SOCO well


Free

Operator SOCO International spudded the LDKEM-1 exploration well on the Lideka East Marine prospect on Marine XI on 20 July. The well will test the potential of a post-salt structure of the Sendji Formation in the Lower Congo Basin, updip from the 2009 Lideka Marine-1 well, which had oil shows. The well is expected to take 30-35 days to reach the target depth.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Qatar Petroleum International (QPI) has invested in Total E&P Congo through a 15% share capital increase that will help fund the $10bn Moho Nord project. Traditionally downstream focused, QPI’s only other sub-Saharan African upstream involvement is a 20% stake in Total’s Ta7 and Ta8 blocks in Mauritania, acquired in 2007. In recent years, the company has sought to expand, often via reciprocal deals, farming into the overseas fields of international oil companies which operate in Qatar.

Congo Brazzaville
Subscriber

Operator SOCO International and its partners on Marine XI have agreed to accelerate the drilling of the Lideka Marine East 1 well. The Transocean Falcon 100 drilling rig has been secured and the well is expected to spud before the end of Q2. SOCO said the well would be a test of stacked plays and would test both a structural closure updip from an oil leg encountered in the Lideka Marine 1 well drilled 2km to the west, and a large untested structural closure in an overlying formation. SOCO has also been awarded a one-year exploration licence over the onshore, coastal Nanga II A Block near the M’Boundi field. The initial plan is to evaluate aeromagnetic data and reprocess existing 2D seismic before deciding whether to proceed with a limited 3D seismic survey. Once work is complete, SOCO will decide whether to enter into a production-sharing contract.


Congo Brazzaville