By McJohn Opotobo, in Warri
The much anticipated 2nd licencing round for oil fields deemed marginal in Nigeria is unlikely to be inaugurated until 1st Quarter 2018.
There is a heightened sense of anxiety for the round, the first in 10 years, and dozens of companies are waiting for the announcement, but impeccable sources at the Ministry of Petroleum in the country’s capital Abuja dismiss the possibility of the anticipated inaugural statement being made any time in the next three months.
The Department of Petroleum Resources, the country’s regulatory agency, responded angrily to a newspaper report which cited some guidelines to the round last week including allusions that the authorities plan to set aside some of the oil acreages for discretionary awards to “individuals from the Niger Delta region”. The report, published Monday September 18, had indicated that such discretionary awards are “to ensure that people from the region own the oil assets, even if it means holding a separate bid round for Niger Delta-owned companies”.
Petroleum ministry sources who spoke with Africa Oil+Gas Report were not discomfited by the parts of the said newspaper report which indicated that interested investors will be required to pay $50,000 each for a Competent Persons Report (CPR), which, the newspaper wrote “will require bidders to provide details of their shareholding structure, names of their directors, track record in the oil and gas sector, audited financial statements, partnership and/or collaboration with indigenous firms, and financial resources to bid and pay for the oil acreages”. The ministry sources also did not contest the part that said that “after the CPR stage, investors will also pay $15,000 each as data mining fees to enable them gain access to the relevant data on the acreages that will be placed on offer”. They are, however vigorously upset about the claims that the guidelines include a plan to set aside some of the oil acreages for discretionary awards to “individuals from the Niger Delta region.” Fuller story here
All articles in the Farm in, Farm Out Section:
By Toyin Akinosho
Whenever the Ugandan government awards a petroleum exploration licence and signs an oil production sharing agreement with Oranto Petroleum on the Ngassa area, as it expects to do in the coming week,it would be concluding its debut,31 month long, open acreage sale.
In the event, only two of the four companies that were granted the opportunity to take positions accepted to do so.
While Oranto of Nigeria and Armour Energy of Australia agreed to sign, Waltersmith and Niger Delta Exploration, both Nigerian companies, chose to walk out.
Incidentally, these two unsatisfied companies have far more hands-on experience in oilfield activity than the two who signed up (ref-Africa Oil+Gas Report, Vol 17, No 4, 2016).
And yet, Uganda’s is only the latest on the list of cases of poor outcomes of lease sales on the continent.
Angola, Nigeria, even Equatorial Guinea have suffered losses, both in relative and absolute terms, after drawn out bid round proceedings. Read the full article in the Vol 18, No 7 (September) 2017 issue of the Africa Oil+Gas Report.
The West African state believes that the minnow was trying to sell hydrocarbon property that did not belong to it
Oslo listed junior, African Petroleum, says it is preparing toformally commence arbitration against Gambian authorities, as it has not received any feedback, formal or otherwise, from the Government, “despite its best efforts to engage in dialogue with the relevant authorities”.
African Petroleum has for the past three and half years been at odds with the Gambian Government, who revoked the two licences in January 2014 and then reinstated the licences after the company went to arbitration.
The Government’s concern has always been that it doesn’t see African Petroleum doing much with the acreages, located in what has now become one of the world’s hottest Exploration spots; the Northwest African transform margin.
Since late 2016, African Petroleum has been in negotiation with an unnamed third party regarding the possible acquisition of interests by said third party in those two Licences: A1 and A4
But the acquisition was conditional upon extension of the exploration periods of both licences by at least 12 months. This fact, as far as the Gambian government was concerned, meant that African Petroleum was trying to sell hydrocarbon property that did not belong to it.
ByJuly 2017, the proposed deal had unravelled.The putative buyer was no longer keen. African Petroleum had failed in the bid to sell a 70% stake in A1 and A4 offshore blocks in Gambia, along with another licence in neighbouring Senegal.
African Petroleum is vexed that the Government’s non response to its call for renewal fostered the climate of uncertainty that soured the deal. The government simply didn’t respond to the company’s proposal to enter into the next phase of the licences and transfer the outstanding well commitment into the new phase.
“We now believe that in order to protect our historical investment, we have no choice but to take this case to arbitration.We remain open to progressive dialogue and sensible resolutions with the Gambian authorities but must proactively seek to protect our rights through this process”, the company said.
London listed Chariot Oil & Gas Limited has elected not to enter into the First Renewal Exploration Period of the exploration licences covering each of the Namibian Blocks 2714A and 2714B.
But in the event that any company completes exploration drillingin any of these blocks, Chariot has secured an assurance from the Namibian government that it could return to them and acquire f10% equity for no financial consideration.
Chariot has been one of those companies extremely keen on Namibian prospectivity. It currently holds85% equity with the state hydrocarbon firm NAMCO Rholding 10% and Quiver, a little known minnow holding 5%. The company says it has notified these two partners about its exit and the process of withdrawal is now underway.
Chariot was in the Joint Venture that drilled Kabeljou-1 in Block 2714A in 2012, and plugged and abandoned the well as a duster at a total depth of 3,150metres True Vertical Depth subsea (TVDss) in September 2012. At the time of that drilling, Chariot held 25%, with Petrobras (Operator) 30% and BP 45%. The other companies have since left.
Chariot acquired approximately 2,128 kilometres of 2D seismic data, prefunded the ION Namibia SPAN long offset 2D seismic data and reprocessed the historic 3D seismic data over the 2714A and 2714B. Analysis of the integration of this seismic data with regional well data identified gas prospects AO1 and AO2 in the Aptianclasticonlap play.
“The work undertaken by Chariot to define this prospectivity resulted in industry interest; however the technical risk associated with these prospects deterred potential partners from committing to a programme of exploration drilling in the current environment”, the company explains. “The decision not to enter into the next period was made in line with the Company’s risk management strategy, its focus on portfolio management and capital discipline”.
Swedish operator and its partner receive licence extension in this promising corner of the North West African margin
Australian minnow, FAR Limited,has been granted approval by Guinea Bissau authorities to increase its stake from 15 to 21.42% in Sinapa and Esperança oil blocks.
The approval reflects the fact that state-owned Petróleos de Guiné (Petroguin) has given up its shareholding until a discovery with commercial value occurs.
Petroguin will assume a shareholding of 10%if a discovery is made. FAR Limited and Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB, the operator, will then have stakes of 19.28% and 70.71% respectively.
The partnership obtained from the government a more favourable agreement regarding the investment needed for oil prospecting in deepwater, including the reduction of royalties to be paid to the Guinea-Bissau state if production begins, FAR notes in its statement. The partnership’s licences to the blocks have been extended by three years and will now expire on 25 November 2020, with obligation to drill at least one prospecting well and spend a minimum of $3Million on each licence, FAR says.
The Guinea Bissau government places a lot of hope on Svenska, the Swedish explorer, to make a significant discovery in in Sinapa and Esperança. The country, afterall, is located in the North West African margin, which has recently proven vast commercial hydrocarbons in Senegal and Mauritania.
Confirms our prognosis that the Majors are reclaiming the African E&P Frontier
With its $7.45Billion purchase of Maersk Oil, TOTAL has taken over the majority of the 2 Billion barrels sized undeveloped discoveries in East Africa.
Maersk holds 50% of the undeveloped discoveries in Kenya, which have been estimated at 750Million barrels. This sale comes less than eight months after TOTAL purchased 22% of the assets about to be developed in Uganda, fetching it 55% in the upstream part of the entire Uganda basin development project.
This means that TOTAL will be funding the majority share in expenses on the two pipelines that will export crude from Uganda (Hoima –Tanga) and Kenya (Lockhichar to Lamu).
The deal with Maersk is expected to close in 1Q 2018, subject to the consent of the Kenyan authorties. Maersk Oil’s parent, AP Moller-Maersk will receive $4.95bn in the form of Total shares, representing a 3.75% stake in the French major, and Total will also assume $2.5Billion of Maersk Oil’s debt.
Shell operated Egbolom field, in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 23, is the asset to have in Nigeria’s impending Marginal Field round.
Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, has proposed an asset sale this year and the country’s regulatory agency, the Department of Petroleum Resources, is working frantically to deliver on the call.
Of all the 40+ fields likely to be on offer, Egbolom, an onshore (Swamp) asset, located in the Central Niger Delta, has the highest estimated Ultimate Recoverable (2P) Reserves of 85Million barrels, a volume that is over 30% higher than the second largest field, which is located in the prolific south east shallow water Niger Delta.
The smallest field in the play is Chevron operated Obira field, located in OML 89.
Egbolom was discovered in 1982, and has lain fallow ever since. The Central Niger Delta swamp is the site of one of the most militant, oil theft and crude oil flow disruption activity in the entire Niger Delta basin.
Full marginal field reserves map can be accessed here.
The Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria’s regulatory agency, is unaware of any plan by Shell to hand over the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11, the acreage which contains the Ogoni community, to a new divestee on Tuesday July 25, 2017.
There are whispers everywhere that the AngloDutch major has picked one of several companies vying to acquire the 45% stake belonging to Shell, TOTAL and ENI on this onshore eastern Niger Delta asset, which contains the troubled Ogoni area.
→ Read the rest of this entry
By Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu
“If you did this much, I have enough confidence in you to give you more responsibility”
It is very unique when a single individual along with his team puts up something as edifying as this. I’ve known Austin as the Managing Director of Seplat Petroleum then I saw him with Platform Petroleum, I was a bit confused. Now he goes by the tag name Advisor, a usual synonym for disguising heavy shareholders in oil parlance. I’m glad he’s giving back in a very big way and I urge everybody who’s an alumnus in every university in the country to follow suit.
It is significant in terms of what message he’s sending which is that Nigerian graduands study with the best tools in
the best environment and produce the best results. “I congratulate Platform Petroleum and if you did this much, I have enough confidence in you to give you more responsibility and I’m going to work towards that”. I’m impressed with you and what you did and I’m impressed by the fact that you were one of the first to take advantage of the Marginal Field Allocation. I’m going to do what I can to ensure there’re more marginal field allocations to people like you.
In Houston I announced the Project 100, the whole idea is to identify 100 Nigerians who have the impetus, resources and skill set to be able take oil industry forward and do the very quick things. We’re beginning to search for those Nigerians and clearly you’re one of the people we’re looking for. Nigerians have shown they can do it. I’m looking forward to be able to announce soon what terminal date we’ll have for the production of FPSOs in Nigeria, such big type projects.
This morning at the Federal Executive Council, under the guidance of the Acting President, we approved the new Gas Policy for 2017 which is now official and we’re in the thresholds of approving a new Petroleum Policy and working very hard with National Assembly to finalize the PIB. The terrain today is now different, oil is no longer the commodity that we can take for granted in terms of pricing. Pricing has tumbled down to about a quarter of what it used to be, production has pummelled and no matter how much we try to fight as OPEC, we continue to suffer the pangs of price uncertainties and continual decline. Every country worth its salt is looking inward, in terms of investors.
It’s amazing how much Nigerian investors exist when you see the amount of fields bought up from the majors by Nigerians, you’ll realize we actually neglect our capacity. One of the things I’m committed to do under the Project 100 Theory is to create the right incentives for Nigerians to invest in their own country. Different from those investments, there’re certain very bold steps we must take.
Refining for example we’ve been having all these debates, but the reality is if we can’t refine our petroleum products in this country, it’s a major shame. And whatever it takes, I seek all your support in all of these, we must achieve those 2019 goal post. In terms of financing, we have changed the dynamics of the funding mechanism that allows the majors to move forward. We need to transmit some of those advantages to domestic producers and I’m hoping that in the next one month, the process will be completed and we’ll give you some advantages that we give the majors.
There’re lots of things to be done, we’re moving from oil to gas. Gas is a new equation but more importantly, we’re moving to aphilosophical base of not just producing oil and shipping out crude rather having to process as much of that into this country. Hopefully soon, we’ll be able to provide to our Nigerian populace, our work is cut out for us, there’s a huge amount of work out there. When we see this sort of effort that Austin has done together with the state, it is time to knock doors, it is time to say you must take coverage of this and begin to move forward it encourages all of us to move forward.
Speech delivered by Mr. Kachikwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources on the occasion of his opening of a $0.6MillionGeoscience Teaching and Research Complex at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
By Ngong Oyok, in Kampala
Public officers who received money from President Yoweri Museveni for ostensibly helping the state to recover tax payments from Heritage Oil and Gas Ltd were in contravention of Ugandan law, the country’s parliament has noted.
President Museveni’s payment of $1.7Million (or Six Billion Ugandan Shillings) to 42 public officers who participated in the Heritage Oil and Gas Arbitration case, had caused a storm of criticism across the country. All over the media, radio, newspapers, TV and in the social media, commentators are calling it “The Handshake Scandal”.
A report, released last week by the Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authority and State Enterprises (COSASE) said a team, representing those officers, met the President at his country home in Rwakitura on May 17, 2015 and “requested for a reward to which the president agreed”.
The Ugandan Parliament assigned the committee, on January 19, 2017 to, among others, investigate the claims that the public officers solicited for the handshake, the basis of determination of the beneficiaries of the bonus payment and in effect examine whether all proper and legal procedures under the laws of Uganda were followed in making the payment.
The committee evaluated letters by the Attorney General dated April 13, 2015 and that of the President dated November 16, 2015 which all confirmed that the team that had met the President had solicited for money as a reward for their efforts which led to the winning of the capital gains tax case.
Mr.Museveni had defended his payment of the money to officers involved in winning the capital tax gains case against Heritage Oil, because, in his view, their action had helped recovered, for Uganda, a lot of money.
The President was particularly excited that a Ugandan legal team had won the landmark $434MM (over Sh1.1 Trillion) tax case in London against Heritage Oil and Gas Ltd. A three-member arbitration team ruled against the three core tax claims by Heritage, which was contesting the decision by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to tax their $1.45Billion transaction with Tullow Oil.
Ms Doris Akol, the Commissioner General Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), was head of URA’s legal department, in April 2013, that led the court battles against both Tullow Oil and and Heritage and won the case in London, which “conclusively affirmed that oil transactions will be taxable. It means that such deals will be subject to a 30% capital-gains tax for Uganda”, according to the Ugandan newspaper New Vision.
Wouldn’t this be enough justification for President Museveni to reward officers involved in such a landmark case?
COSASE, apparently, doesn’t think so. The report by the legislators led by the committee chairperson, Abdul Katuntusays otherwise. The report states that all the beneficiaries denied soliciting for the reward apart from Ali Ssekatawa, who incidentally was the lead lawyer for the state at the London hearing.
The beneficiaries gave basis for the reward as Article 98 and 99 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, suggesting that the President being the fountain of honour exercised his executive powers and directed that the team be given the reward.
But despite the President informing the committee that it was his decision to reward the team, “members found it morally wrong and setting a bad precedent for other public servants having confirmed that the reward was a solicitation”, according to the committee report.
The report pointed out, “According to Black’s Law Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, solicit refers to the act or instance of requesting or seeking to obtain something.”
Those implicated for soliciting the reward include; the Attorney General, Fred Ruhindi, URA Executive Director, DorisAkol, Allen Kagina, Ali Ssekatawa, Peter Muliisa, Martin Mwambutsya, Francis Atoke, George Kalemera, Honey Malinga and Ernest Rubondo.
The committee noted that the reward was in contravention of the Constitution particularly Articles 98 and 99 as relied on by the beneficiaries, the National Honors and Awards Act, 2001, the Public Service Standing Orders and the URA Human Resource Manual.
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