Search results

The Nigeria-São Tomé Joint Development Zone (JDZ) is hoping for a resurgence of interest after Total licensed blocks 7, 8 and 11 in March. Ibiwari Lorvde Jack, executive chairman, monitoring and inspection at the Joint Development Authority (JDA) administering the JDZ, said licensing terms had been revised and the JDA was seeking to promote the area’s potential at industry events. The JDA plans to launch a third licensing round for open acreage in Q4 2019 or Q1 2020, and there are also plans to delineate new blocks in the southern area of the JDZ.

Total and Sonangol signed a production-sharing agreement with the government of São Tomé & Príncipe on 15 March to explore for oil in Block 1 of the islands’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the national oil agency ANP said.The award follows an invitation for expressions of interest launched by the São Toméan authorities in May 2018.

The Project Fiduciary and Administrative Agency (AFAP) has invited prequalification applications by 30 January 2019 for the civil works related to the rehabilitation and expansion of the 4MW Contador plant on São Tomé island. The work on the run-of-river plant is being co-financed by the World Bank under the Power Sector Recovery Project. The plant has been in operation for about 50 years and due to poor maintenance only about 2MW of its capacity is operating.

The government of São Tomé and Príncipe signed a memorandum of understanding on 21 September with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for development projects in the island state. The agreement was signed in New York on the sidelines of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly. Foreign minister Urbino José Gonçalves Botelho said the UNOPS support would cover project and contract management, procurement and infrastructure development to structure investor-friendly deals with a focus on social housing and renewable energy.

Kosmos Energy plans to acquire 13,000km2 of 3D seismic across its São Tomé and Príncipe acreage in Q1 2017, the company’s biggest ever seismic survey. Vice-president exploration Tracey Henderson told Africa Upstream that several people at Kosmos had worked with Triton Energy when it discovered the Ceiba and Okume/Oveng fields in Equatorial Guinea. “We see São Tomé as a play extension to those Equatorial Guinea discoveries. This is a very large position covering roughly 25,000km2, which is equivalent to about 1,110 Gulf of Mexico blocks.

A €12m ($13.3m) loan is under appraisal at the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance power sector recovery in São Tomé & Príncipe. The project is coordinated with a $16m grant from the World Bank Group’s International Development Association (IDA), agreed in August. The project has a total cost of $29m. The main component is investment to improve reliability of electricity generation, transmission and distribution, with $10.6m from IDA and $7.8m from the EIB. Half of the total will finance the rehabilitation of the 1.9MW Contador hydropower plant, where available capacity has shrunk to just 1MW, and the upgrading of the plant to 2.2MW.

Kosmos Energy has taken two more blocks in São Tomé and Príncipe’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in a farm-in agreement with Equator Exploration. Equator, 81.5% owned by Toronto-listed Oando Energy Resources, has farmed out 65% operated stakes in blocks 5 and 12 to Kosmos, which licensed EEZ blocks 6 and 11 late last year (AE 311/1). Equator signed the production-sharing contract (PSC) for Block 12 in February with São Tomé’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP-STP). The PSC for Block 5 was signed in April 2012 and a 1480km2 3D seismic survey was acquired in April 2015.

Playing down disappointments that São Tomé & Príncipe has not emerged as the oil and gas producer many companies expected when the Gulf of Guinea play opened two decades ago, Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada lobbied business and development finance institutions during a mid-October visit to London, backed by research from McKinsey showing STP’s potential for tourism and agriculture investment, and support from former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. But it seems to be China that has moved quickest to back Trovoada’s ‘Transformation Agenda’, whose priorities include a deep-water trans-shipment port.

Minister of public works and natural resources Fernando Manquego announced on 20 August that the Angolan government had opened a $5.3m line of credit to finance construction of a 6km transmission line from the 8.5MW Santo Amaro thermal power station in the Lobata district to the 4.5MW Água-Grande thermal power plant in São Tomé city. The contract will be carried out by Portugal’s Cunha Soares, which has a presence in São Tomé, and should take five months to complete, the minister said. The project, which also includes the construction of two substations, aims to improve the distribution of electricity on São Tomé island, which suffers from chronic blackouts.

The government has short-listed four companies to bid on two oil blocks in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), according to a statement from the state Agência Nacional do Petróleo. São Tomé announced a licensing round for blocks 1 and 6 in January. The statement said Galp Energia’s Petrogal subsidiary and New World Oil and Gas had expressed interest in both blocks. AIM-listed New World is headed by executive chairman Bill Kelleher, who was a founder of Cameroon gas producer Victoria Oil & Gas.

Hong Kong-based private company Sinoangol has applied to São Tomé and Príncipe for exploration rights to block 2 in the island state’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Agencia Nacional de Petróleo de São Tomé and Príncipe (ANP-STP) issued a public notice on 12 April inviting competitors with “proof of technical capability and financial fitness” to express interest within 15 days.

Having repositioned itself with new acreage acquisitions in Chad and Kenya, ERHC Energy has moved away from the deep waters of the Gulf of Guinea and set an ambitious timetable for the next two years.

The government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Cyprus-registered Gunvor Group to create an oil storage and trading terminal on the island of São Tomé

GHANA: Tullow contracts new rig; NAMIBIA: HRT licence extension; SAO TOME: Oranto completes PSC for EEZ Block 3

Until now, Houston-based ERHC Energy has been Gulf of Guinea-focused, with shares in six blocks in the Nigeria-São Tomé & Príncipe Joint Development Zone (JDZ) and two blocks in the São Tomé & Príncipe’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Chadian deal confirms that ERHC is diversifying, with the company also recently bidding for acreage in Tanzania and looking for acreage elsewhere.