Search results

The government has received 21 bids for 14 of the 27 blocks offered in its licensing round, which closed in September, and plans to announce awards in Malabo on 26 November. Speaking during a country presentation at Africa Oil Week on 7 November, energy and mines minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said bids for EG-27, EG-23, EG-18, EG-09, EG-03, EG-04 and EG-29 had been fully evaluated and would be signed by the end of November while the rest would need more time.

The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has announced that Kosmos Energy’s S-5 well on Block EG-24 has discovered oil. A ministry statement said the S-5 well was drilled at a total depth of 4,400 metres in the Rio Muni Basin and encountered 39 metres of net oil play in a Santonian reservoir. The discovery was the first well drilled in Kosmos’ infrastructure-led exploration strategy in Equatorial Guinea.

A sale took place in Switzerland on 29 September of 25 supercars seized by Swiss authorities from vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorín, the son of the president. The cars were auctioned with no reserve on behalf of the State of Geneva by auction handlers Bonhams. The sale raised about CHF26m ($27m) in total, of which CHF23.4m will go to social projects in Equatorial Guinea.Swiss authorities seized the cars and ordered the sequestration of Teodorín’s yacht in 2016 following an investigation into money laundering and mismanagement of public assets.

Equatorial Guinea has signalled that an agreement with Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosneft could emerge from the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on 23-24 October. A Russian news report, retweeted by minister of mines and hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, quoted the minister as saying the Equatorial Guinea delegation, to be led by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, would not come to the summit “empty-handed”.

APR Energy has supplied and installed two 20MW TM2500 turbines to add to capacity at the 154MW Malabo Turbo Gas plant on Bioko Island. The new turbines arrived in Equatorial Guinea in early August and are expected to commission by the end of September.

The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has announced an oil discovery by Noble Energy in offshore Block I. The Aseng 6P well was drilled to a total depth of 4,417 metres testing a deeper prospect beneath the Aseng field. The field consists of five subsea wells connected to a FPSO vessel, and the ministry said Noble would use existing infrastructure to put the well on production from October 2019.

The government has announced plans for an LNG terminal on Equatorial Guinea’s mainland. The new plant will be built at the port of Akonikien on the southern border by local contractor Elite Construcciones. It will have a storage capacity of 14,000m3 in 12 bullet tanks as well as a truck loading station and 12km of gas and diesel pipelines, and will enable the transportation and storage of LNG produced at the EGLNG plant at the Punta Europa Gas Complex on Bioko Island.

The Center for Studies and Initiatives for the Development of Equatorial Guinea (CEID) has protested against an Interior Ministry resolution ordering that the NGO should be dissolved. The decision was dated 11 April but delivered on 3 July. The CEID said the authorities had delayed making the decision public to avoid unwelcome publicity while Malabo was pursuing its application to re-join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), hosting the African Development Bank annual meetings, receiving visits from delegations of the German parliament and Community of Lusophone Countries, and negotiating with the International Monetary Fund.

Twenty-five supercars seized by Switzerland in 2016 from Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea and son of the president, will be auctioned to the public in September. The auction is expected to raise more than €12m ($13.4m), auction handlers, Bonhams said.

A recent trip abroad by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo sparked speculation among companies working in Equatorial Guinea that a coup was imminent. Rumours circulated of troop movements, which observers linked to the longstanding rivalry between energy and mines minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima and vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as Teodorín. However, in a 17 June interview, Obiang Lima told African Energy that his father had needed time off after the death of his half-brother Antonio Mba Nguema, minister of presidential security, in South Africa on 6 May.

Energy and mines minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima has expressed reservations about contract transparency despite his government applying to rejoin the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Speaking to African Energy before travelling to Paris for the EITI Global Conference, he said the initiative treated countries with limited capacity too harshly, and expressed reservations about publishing contract terms.“Some of the members of EITI, they are not there to help countries,” Obiang Lima said.

While minister of mines and hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima is clearly in a hurry to bring more oil and gas resources into production and to raise the profile of his country within the global hydrocarbons industry, he is also holding out for the best deals he can get. Market speculation is focused on a prospective deal for London-based independent Trident Energy – which is led by former Perenco executives and describes itself as an expert in reviving mid-life oil and gas assets – to take over ExxonMobil’s Zafiro oil and gas field, which started production in 1996.

The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH) has chosen a strategic partner to execute Equatorial Guinea’s Gas Megahub master plan, which is centred on the further development of the Punta Europa complex, which includes Marathon Oil Corporation’s gas processing plant, Equatorial Guinea LNG Holdings (EGLNG)’s terminal and a methanol production facility.Speaking on the margins of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation’s Cape VII conference in Malabo, mines and hydrocarbons minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima told African Energy that MMH was already working with its partner.

Equatorial Guinea is seeking readmission to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as part of efforts to attract more investors to its key oil and gas sector. The government, which plans to launch a licensing round in April, sent a delegation to Oslo for a meeting on 15 February with representatives of the EITI Secretariat, including executive director Mark Robinson. The delegation presented a letter of intent from the EG EITI National Commission to join the EITI.

Vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue’s $100m luxury yacht Ebony Shine is being returned to him after Swiss authorities closed an investigation into money laundering and mismanagement of public assets. Authorities in Geneva said on 7 February they had decided to dismiss proceedings against Obiang (known as Teodorín) and two other defendants.