Sierra Leone is West Africa's new oil and gas frontier
A senior government official announced on Thursday that Sierra Leone would wait to see the results of its recently launched offshore 3D seismic study, its first for over a decade. This will allow it to open its next round of oil and gas licenses later this year. GeoPartners, in partnership with the petroleum directorate of the government, began the six-week survey last month to reduce the risk associated with exploration in the offshore basin of Sierra Leone. Foday Mansaray is the director general of the Sierra Leone Petroleum Directorate. He said that the reprocessing was taking place with TGS. We hope to have something ready to launch in October.
Petrobras CEO: Africa will be the main exploration region for Petrobras outside Brazil.
Petrobras wants to develop Africa as its primary region outside Brazil. The CEO of the state-run oil company said this in a broad interview on Thursday. Petrobras CEO Magda Chabriard said that Ivory Coast extended the "red-carpet" to Petrobras when it granted the company the preference for buying nine offshore exploration blocks on Wednesday. She said that Nigeria, Angola and Namibia also expressed an interest in working with Brazil's giant. Chambriard said, "We are experts on the eastern margins of Brazil," citing similar geological features between the region and Africa.
Petrobras has exclusive rights to explore offshore blocks in Ivory Coast
Petrobras, the state-owned oil company of Brazil, announced on Wednesday that it had won exclusive rights to negotiate for the purchase nine offshore exploration blocks in Ivory Coast. Petrobras stated in a filing that the government had conceded to the exclusive talks after the oil company presented a declaration indicating its interest in the assets. According to the Ivory Coast Government, the blocks are located mostly in deep water in the western part the national sedimentary Basin. The Ivory Coast Council of Ministers stated in a press release that Petrobras would "help to further develop western margin of country's sedimentary basin…
Ghana wants to reduce the $2.5 billion in debt it owes to power producers within a year
John Dramani Mahama, the president of Ghana, said that the country should be able reduce its $2.5 billion debt to independent gas and power producers by the end the year. As part of its efforts to reduce its debt, the West African nation reached an agreement last year with independent power producers for a restructure of a legacy debt of approximately $1 billion. Since Mahama's second term as President in January, Ghana has continued to face challenges due to arrears owed to service providers. He claimed that the state-owned utility ECG, which is inefficient at collecting revenue, was suffering losses of around 40%.
Eni sells stakes to Vitol in upstream projects in Ivory Coast and Congo
The Italian energy group Eni announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to sell its stakes in the upstream assets of the Ivory Coast, and the Republic of the Congo, to the global energy trader Vitol. Eni stated that the deal is worth $1.65bn based on an appraisal from January 1, 2024. However, there will be a cash payment at closing. Eni announced that Vitol would acquire an interest on oil and gas producing assets, and blocks, which are undergoing exploration appraisal and development. Eni will retain a 77.25% stake in the Baleine Project in Ivory Coast and Vitol a 30% interest.
The UK will try Glencore's former head of oil in 2027 on charges of bribery
In 2027, Glencore's former oil head Alex Beard will be tried in London on charges of bribery along with five other former employees of the Swiss commodity trading company. Beard was not asked to enter his plea during a short hearing on Wednesday at London's Southwark Crown Court. He had indicated in his first court appearance that he would plead not-guilty. The 57-year old is accused of two counts of conspiracy for corrupt payments made to officials of government-owned oil companies and to officials of the Nigerian government between 2010 and 2014. Beard is the most prominent commodity trader in Britain to be charged with alleged corruption.
Glencore's former head of oil is charged with bribery in a UK court
Alex Beard, former Glencore head of oil, appeared before a London court Tuesday to answer bribery allegations relating to Glencore's operations in Africa. Beard's lawyer told the London Westminster Magistrates' Court that he will plead guilty. The 57-year old is accused of two counts of conspiracy for corrupt payments made to officials of government-owned oil companies and government officials in Nigeria from 2010 to 2014 and in Cameroon, between 2007 and 2008. Beard is the most prominent commodity trader in Britain to be charged with alleged corruption. He joined Glencore from BP in 1995, which was the largest trading desk of that time.
Gunvor Returns to Profit in 2019
Energy trader Gunvor Group returned to profit in 2019 after its first net loss a year earlier, helped by record earnings in its U.S. division, and said business so far in 2020 remained strong.The Geneva-based firm, which reported a 2019 net profit of $381 million after a loss of $330 million in 2018, said on Tuesday it was also helped last year by earnings from gas trading and its European refining business.But the group, one of the world's top five oil traders, said revenue dipped to $75 billion in 2019 from $87 billion in 2018.Gunvor, which launched its U.S.
New Offshore Acreage Licensing to Drop 60% in 2020, Rystad says
Newly licensed offshore oil and gas exploration acreage is likely to fall by about 60% and onshore acreage by 30% compared with 2019 levels, Rystad Energy has said, as the Norwegian energy market analytics company expects more than half of the world’s planned licensing rounds to be canceled this year due to the combined effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the low oil prices."This year was slated to be another remarkable year for exploration with about 45 countries launching at least 52 lease rounds, about 60% of them in offshore areas. The decline in the expected number of lease rounds compared to last year’s 69 was not a sign of fewer countries offering new licenses…
Angola Hopes Reforms Will Aid Oil Assets Sales
Angola is hoping sweeping economic reforms will smooth an ambitious plan to sell key state assets, including stakes in oil company Sonangol, a share of Puma Energy and more than 100 other enterprises.Africa's second biggest oil exporter is in a rush for cash as it struggles to cope with moribund crude prices, slumping output and years of mismanagement that left Sonangol bloated and inefficient.In August, the government published an extensive list of assets that will be offered to investors via public offerings, stake sales, asset sales or tenders.The swift timeline aims for an initial public offering of Sonangol in 2022…
Seadrill Ivory Coast Contract Terminated
Seadrill Partners, the deep-water drilling contractor for the petroleum industry, has received an early termination notice from an unnamed operator for the West Vencedor rig contract offshore Ivory Coast.The contract was expected to start in 3Q 2019. In January, the rig received a six-well contract with three option wells.The West Vencedor unit had recently completed its work in Myanmar and will now stay in Southeast Asia to be marketed for additional opportunities.Seadrill Partners is expected to receive a lump sum early termination payment…
For the Global LNG Industry, is the FSRU Honeymoon Over?
A giant vessel docked at the port of Moheshkhali in Bangladesh two months ago, propelling the populous but poor nation into the fast-expanding club of liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyers.The Excellence is the latest floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), a type of carrier that has proliferated since 2015 as many countries switch to a cleaner and increasingly cheaper fuel than oil and coal.But the young FSRU industry has been beset by more project delays than successes in the past 12 months as fluctuating energy prices, shipping rates…
Tullow to Pay Seadrill $254 mln Over Ghana Dispute
A London judge ordered Tullow Oil to pay rig owner Seadrill around $254 million saying Tullow was wrong to end a rig contract in Ghana on grounds of force majeure over a maritime dispute, Tullow said on Tuesday.Tullow cancelled the contract for Seadrill's West Leo rig in December 2016 after Ghana set a drilling moratorium on its TEN offshore oil and gas field which is located in waters then claimed by both Ghana and Ivory Coast.An international tribunal last year ruled in favour of Ghana, allowing Tullow, the lead operator of the project, to resume drilling.
OPEC Set to Prolong Oil Cuts
OPEC will likely agree to extend production cuts for another nine months, delegates said on Tuesday as the oil producer group meets this week to debate how to tackle a global glut of crude. OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, favours extending the output curbs by nine months rather than the initially planned six months, as it seeks to speed up market rebalancing and prevent oil prices from sliding back below $50 per barrel. On Monday, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih won support from OPEC's second-biggest and fastest-growing producer, Iraq, for a nine-month extension and said he expected no objections from anyone else.
Armed Piracy in West African Waters Rise
Bulk of attacks occurred off Nigeria. Armed attacks on ships in West African waters nearly doubled in 2016, with pirates increasingly focused on kidnapping their crew for ransom off Nigeria's coast, a report said on Tuesday. A recent spate of attacks off Somalia, meanwhile, may also indicate a resurgence of piracy in East Africa as a result of less vigilance, the Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) project said. OBP, a project of the privately funded One Earth Future Foundation that encourages cooperation across the international maritime community to tackle piracy, recorded 95 attacks in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea in 2016, up from 54 the previous year.
In Demand: Hoegh LNG’s Sveinung Stoehle
Satisfied with the recent opening of a new floating LNG import terminal in Turkey plus contract successes in Africa and Asia, Hoegh LNG CEO and president, Sveinung Stoehle, cautiously lets us into his stylish Oslo offices for a bit of “disclosure”. The Hoegh business model is winning out, and now six floating storage and regasification units, or FSRUs, are in operation with four newbuilds on the way. The terminal in Turkey was built in just six months: “It would be years, not months, for a land-based gas terminal,” Stohle asserts. That risk argument has Hoegh LNG in just about every gas-trading discussion in the developing world, so we asked to hear more.
Strike at CNR's Ivory Coast oil and gas fields extended
Workers have extended a strike indefinitely at Canadian Natural Resources' (CNR) Baobab and Espoir oil and gas fields in Ivory Coast, the SISPOO oil workers union said on Saturday. A 72-hour strike was called early on Wednesday over the firing of workers and was extended on Friday after the parties failed to reach an agreement. "As no solution is in sight, we hereby announce the extension of the strike until the conflict is resolved," SISPOO said in a letter to CNR on Friday. The union told Reuters on Wednesday that no gas was coming from any of CNR's platforms, and that output from those sites represented about 30 percent of Ivorian oil and gas production.
Total Buys Stake in US Gas Projects Group Tellurian
French oil and gas major Total said on Tuesday it will buy a 23 percent stake in Tellurian Investments, a private U.S. gas projects operator, for $207 million as it pursues its drive to secure more downstream gas market share. Total, which is paying $5.85 a share for the stake, and Tellurian will jointly develop an integrated gas project, from producing gas in the United States to delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) to international markets. "Investing in Tellurian at an early stage will give us the opportunity to potentially strengthen our mid- and long-term LNG portfolio thanks to a very cost competitive project…
Cyberhawk soars in Middle East market with oil and gas
World leader in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) inspection and survey, Cyberhawk Innovations, has reported another impressive year in the international oil and gas sector. Most recently, the company has secured a three year framework with Dubai Petroleum for UAV inspections across all of its offshore assets. The agreement, which has the option to renew on a yearly basis for two years, was awarded to Cyberhawk following the successful completion of work for Dubai Petroleum in 2015. The Middle East continues to be a lucrative market for UAV inspection as interest and confidence in the technology grows.
Total to operate Ivory Coast LNG Project
The CI-GNL (Ivory Coast LNG) consortium led by Total has been awarded the rights to build and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification terminal in Ivory Coast with a capacity of 3 million tons per year. The decision announced by the Government of the Ivory Coast on October 4th was followed by the signature of the shareholders’ agreement in Abidjan between Total, which will operate the project with a 34% interest, national companies PetroCI (11%) and CI Energies (5%) as well as SOCAR (26%), Shell (13%), Golar (6%) and Endeavor Energy (5%).
