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Following a $1.29bn farmout deal in Tanzania in November, Ophir has farmed down stakes in four deep-water blocks offshore Gabon to Austria’s OMV ahead of a drilling programme due to start in February. OMV will acquire 30% non-operated interests in the Manga and Gnondo blocks and 10% non-operated interests in the Mbeli and Ntsina blocks. Ophir will retain 70% in Manga and Gnondo and 40% in Mbeli and Ntsina. OMV will pay past costs and a share of the well costs on the Padouck Deep, Affanga Deep and Okala wells, in addition to the cost of two additional wells and of planned 3D seismic surveys across the blocks.

Oil minister Etienne Ngoubou has announced the award of 13 blocks following talks with a shortlist of bidders in Libreville on 28-29 October. Ophir Energy was awarded blocks A-3, A-4, A-5 and A-6, Impact won D-14, Marathon E-12 and Perenco E-14. A consortium of Repsol and ExxonMobil was awarded E-13, Elenilto and Petronas took F-12, ExxonMobil and Noble Energy took C-11, Petronas and Eni took F-13, Perenco and Petronas F-14, and Marathon and Cobalt G-13. The other 30 blocks on offer were not awarded. Companies had applied for licences for 18 blocks from a total of 43 available. 


GABON: Grand Poubara dam start-up. China’s Sinohydro has brought on stream the Grand Poubara hydro plant on the Ogooué River. The dam has an installed capacity of 160MW, from four 40MW turbines. The project also includes two transmission lines, one to Franceville, Gabon’s third largest city, 15km from the project site, the other to the manganese mining region of Moanda. A second phase is planned to increase capacity to 280MW. Two other hydro projects are under construction, Chutes de l’Impératrice on the Ogooué River, and Fe2 on the Okano River (AE 245/1). 
 


Houston-based Harvest Natural Resources is in exclusive talks with Vitol to sell its 66.667% operated stake in the Dussafu Marine permit for $137m. Harvest has been carrying out subsurface and development planning studies for Tortue and other discoveries on the permit, and said in August that its favoured development option was a floating production, storage and offloading vessel close to Tortue, with subsea tiebacks to the Ruche and Walt Whitman fields.

Ophir Energy has secured a rig for a West African drilling campaign to start in February in Gabon. It has agreed heads of terms for a deep-water drillship for six firm wells plus additional contingent slots. The programme will start in early February with the 1bn barrel Padouck Deep pre-salt prospect on Gabon’s Ntsina Block, followed by the Affanga Deep prospect on the Gnondo Block, then the pre-salt Okala prospect on the Mbeli Block.

Total Gabon has made a first discovery in Gabon’s new pre-salt play with the Diaman #1B well on the Diaba Block (AE 253/12). The well was drilled to a total depth of 5,585 metres, and encountered 50-55 metres of net hydrocarbons in the target pre-salt formations, which Total’s partner Cobalt International said were thought to be gas and condensate. The well was drilled in 1,729 metres of water, more than 100km from the nearest commercial pre-salt discovery.

Vaalco Energy said on 24 June that an exploration appraisal well drilled to evaluate an untested fault block on the south-west flank of the Ebouri field encountered water in the Gamba reservoir and the Dentale formation, and will be abandoned. The KCA Deutag Ben Rinnes rig will move to a site north of the Etame field to drill an exploration well on the Ovoka prospect. The well will be drilled in 60 metres of water to a depth of 2,700 metres to evaluate the Gamba reservoir and the underlying Lucina formation. Ovoka is estimated to hold recoverable reserves of more than 30m barrels of oil.

China’s Sinopec has started commercial development of the Akondo oilfield offshore Gabon. The company said in a statement it had begun engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning work with exclusive development rights granted by the government. Sinopec will invest $107m for the construction of a 200,000 t/yr crude processing plant and 58.6km pipeline. Sinopec started exploration work in 2005 on the Akondo oilfield, which lies about 45km north-east of Port Gentil.

Swiss oil trader Gunvor Group has signed an agreement with the Gabon government to create an oil products trading company to supply the West African coast. The agreement, signed during the New York Forum Africa in Libreville on 14-16 June, will create an oil products trading hub based in Port Gentil.

Following its recent farm-out in Morocco, Pura Vida Energy is seeking a partner for the offshore Nkembe Block. The Australian company, which acquired 80% in the block in January, said it was interpreting existing 3D seismic data and expected to release resource estimates in July. In August, it will open a data room with the aim of finding a partner to fund new 3D seismic acquisition and drilling.

Harvest Natural Resources has announced plans to farm down “a significant portion” of its 66.667% stake in the Dussafu Block. Following the drilling of the Dussafu Tortue Marin-1 exploration well, which discovered oil in the Gamba and Dentale formations, studies are under way to evaluate the commerciality of Tortue and other oil discoveries to determine the best development options. Harvest is also planning 3D seismic over the outboard portion of the block to better define exploration prospects identified on 2D seismic.

More gas should become available to supply projects in Gabon from efforts to end flaring, although a significant proportion of this feedstock may be committed to projects already planned by international oil companies (IOCs) – including Total’s new 15MW power plant in Port-Gentil, Perenco’s supply of the plant being built by Israel’s Telemenia and Royal Dutch Shell’s experiments with smaller scale liquefaction (see Gabon fertiliser scheme delayed as gas supply proves elusive).

President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been energetically promoting his country’s investment profile across the world, and Gabon in the 1990s took a continental lead in promoting the concessioning of public services, but the going can be tough for some investors and concession contracts in particular are coming under pressure. According to a Gabon analyst, “utility companies are operating in a particularly fraught environment”.

Plans to drive Gabon’s industrial development using gas have been significantly delayed by the problems associated with securing feedstock for flagship projects – led by a fertiliser scheme that developer Olam International has said will require 750bcf of gas supply over a 25-year period to become one of the world’s lowest-cost producers. Efforts to stop oil companies flaring on their offshore acreage – of which Gabon is one of the persistent offenders – should provide a source of gas for various projects, but so far the government has been unable to secure deals with potential suppliers such as Perenco, Royal Dutch Shell or Total to supply the Gabon Fertilizer Company (GFC) plant.


Total Gabon has spudded the country’s first deep-water pre-salt well. Partner Cobalt Energy said the Ocean Rig Olympia drilling rig had spudded the Diaman 1 well on the Diaba block. The results will be closely watched as Gabon plans a licensing round in June for 42 new deep-water and ultra-deep blocks offering pre-salt potential. Oil minister Etienne Ngoubou told African Energy in December the government hoped to launch the round before the results of pre-salt wells planned this year by Total, Shell and Perenco are known.