Unite Oil & Gas and Aries Energies to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to expand cooperation within the Republic of Congo’s energy sector at AEW: Invest in African Energies

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 5, 2024/APO Group/ — 

Global integrated energy firm Unite Oil & Gas unveiled its growth strategy in Africa, with a specific focus on expanding its footprint in the Republic of Congo (RoC), in Cape Town on Monday.

During a Pre-Event Technical Workshop at African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies Yatche Luchin, CEO and President of Unite Oil & Gas said the firm is signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a joint venture with RoC energy firm Aries Energies. 

The MoU will be signed this week at AEW: Invest in African Energies.

“The goal is to optimize the development of assets in the RoC. Nothing happens without cash hence we are working with the [RoC National Oil Company] SNPC and Aries Energies to unlock new financial strategies.”

The partnership will focus on acquiring stakes in existing permits

Loic Mackosso, General Manager of Aries Energies, added “The partnership will focus on acquiring stakes in existing permits. The government in the RoC encourages local firms to acquire stakes in assets in partnership with international firms.”

He said the aim is to leverage the financial strength and technical expertise of international companies to expand the growth of the RoC’s oil and gas industry.

The MoU will move Unite Oil & Gas closer to its goal of producing 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by end of 2026 across West Africa, according to Luchin.

The company is working with SNPC on a series of drilling and investment campaigns as part of an energy services contract signed in April 2024.

“We helped SNPC drill two wells with one project already producing energy above expectations,” reiterated Luchin.

AEW: Invest in African Energies will host a press briefing organized by the RoC’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy Capital & Power for the launch of the inaugural Congo Energy & Investment Forum (CEIF). 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

The African Farmout Forum featured 16 companies presenting competitive farm-in opportunities across Africa’s oil and gas hotspots

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 5, 2024/APO Group/ — 

The African Farmout Forum – as part of the pre-conference workshops at African Energy Week: Invest in African Energies 2024 – featured 16 companies presenting competitive farm-in opportunities in Africa’s leading oil and gas hotspots.  

Led by global energy advisory Moyes, oil and gas asset deals platform Farmout Angel, and independent advisor Envoi, the forum serves as the premier platform for deal-making and pitching, enabling NOCs, small to medium-sized independents, and start-up energy companies to highlight their partnership and investment opportunities, while accelerating exploration and accessing project funding. 

PSAs 131, 190 and 206 – Somalia   

Liberty Petroleum Corporation is seeking a farm-in partner for PSAs 131, 190 and 206 offshore Somalia. These licenses contain exceptionally large mapped prospects, with an estimated 56 billion barrels of oil resources. Among these is the Leopard prospect, which alone is estimated to hold about 8 billion barrels of resources, highlighting new oil-prone opportunities offshore Somalia. 

Onshore PSCs – Timor-Leste  

Timor Resources is seeking a strategic investment of $20 million to fund three appraisal wells on two PSCs onshore Timor-Leste in exchange for equity in the project. The company has made three discoveries from its initial onshore wells, and the acreage is recognized as a significant conventional oil and gas play with substantial exploration upside. Timor-Leste offers a competitive fiscal regime, allowing 95% of revenue to be allocated to the operator for cost recovery, along with a 5% revenue royalty and additional benefits. 

Loukos Onshore License – Morocco  

Chariot Transitional Energy presented the Loukos Onshore license area in Northern Morocco, representing a near-term, low-risk and high reward appraisal opportunity. Operator Chariot has identified multiple drill-ready opportunities, which offer long-leads in existing inventory and rig availability in-country, along with competitive fiscal terms and license flexibility. These include the RJB-2 Re-Drill, OBA-1 Discovery Appraisal and Material Exploration opportunities.  

Offshore South West Tano Block – Ghana  

OSWT & EK Operating Company is seeking a partner to earn a significant working interest – and potentially operatorship – in the Offshore South West Tano block in Ghana. The block represents a multi-target, low-risk exploration well with tie-back or standalone development options, and lies between the Jubilee and TEN field developments and directly north of the Pecan field. Block prospectivity totals over two billion barrels in place spread across four prospects with a mix of exploration and appraisal targets. The first prospect set to be drilled – Edinam-1X – is scheduled for Q3 2025.  

OPL 332 – Nigeria  

Dajo Energy is seeking a co-developer to develop the Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 322 asset into production. Located offshore Nigeria, OPL 322 contains two major structures – Bobo and Aga thrust – with the Bobo field containing recoverable resources of 277 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas. The Aga thrust is undrilled, but estimated to contain 885 million barrels and 2.5 TCF. The farm-in opportunity offers significant potential upside, with substantial gas resources with high commercialization potential, a possible five-year royalty holiday, and additional incentives under Nigeria’s new oil and gas fiscal and regulatory framework.  

Blocks 53, 53, 55, 71, 72 and 73 – Sierra Leone  

FA OIL is exploring partnerships for blocks 53, 53, 55, 71, 72 and 73, awarded under Sierra Leone’s fifth licensing round. The acreage spans more than 8,000 km², containing 14+ leads in water depths up to 4,000 m. Six out of 11 wells drilled have oil or gas shows or are discoveries. GeoPartners, in partnership with the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone, are planning a new multi-client 3D seismic acquisition over the FA OIL acreage to help mature the leads identified on existing 2D seismic into drillable prospects. The campaign is set to begin July 2025.  

EG-18 and EG-31 – Equatorial Guinea   

Africa Oil Corp. is seeking to farm out interests in blocks EG-18 and EG-31, located offshore Equatorial Guinea. EG-18, positioned in a frontier exploration area within an emerging basin, includes the Jasper prospect – a “giant” target with multi-billion-barrel potential and proven play elements. In contrast, EG-31 offers an infrastructure-led, shallow water exploration opportunity in a mature basin, situated near the Alba field and Punta Europa LNG terminal. This low-risk, proven gas province boasts multi-TCF potential, comprehensive 3D seismic coverage and hosts the Massif and Whistler prospects. 

Deepwater Orange Basin – Namibia  

Namibia has attracted a wealth of major operators, resulting in substantial exploration and appraisal activity in 2023 and 2024. Following world-class hydrocarbon discoveries in 2022 by Shell and TotalEnergies, operators including Galp, Chevron and Woodside Energy have taken strategic positions in adjacent blocks, while non-operating partners such as QatarEnergy, Impact Oil & Gas, Africa Oil Corp. and Sintana Energy have made significant investments in the basin, creating additional farm-in opportunities. 

Marginal Field Development Program – Nigeria  

Decklar Resources and Millennium Oil and Gas Company are in discussions with potential investors and farm-in partners for the Oza field, located in the northern section of OML 22 onshore Nigeria. The license encompasses over 30 discovered oil fields, including producing fields operated by Shell, and benefits from well-established infrastructure with export pipeline access to the Trans Niger Pipeline, linking to the Bonny Offshore Terminal. Three wells previously drilled by Shell in the Oza field have collectively produced over one million barrels. 

Matanda Block – Cameroon  

Gaz du Cameroun (GDC) presented the Matanda block in Cameroon, an onshore gas farm-in opportunity with an established local market and fast-track monetization potential. The Matanda exploration block, located in the Douala Basin near the onshore Logbaba field, is recognized as a proven and active hydrocarbon system. Currently, GDC produces gas and condensate from the Logbaba field, transporting it via pipeline to industrial clients, including Dangote Cement. GDC is seeking an industry partner and is open to farming out up to a 37.5% interest in the PSC. 

Blocks 5 and 12 – São Tomé and Príncipe 

Oando Energy Resources is seeking a partner to advance its exploration commitments on Blocks 5 and 12 in the Exclusive Economic Zone of São Tomé and Príncipe. The country has seen recent licensing activity from Shell, Petrobras, TotalEnergies, Kosmos Energy and Galp. In phase one of its Block 12 work program, Oando has already completed 2,000 km² of 3D seismic and is now progressing into phase two, with plans to drill an exploration well in Q2 2025. 

Block KON6 – Angola  

Grupo Simples presented Block KON6, an onshore exploration opportunity in Angola’s Kwanza Basin. Spanning 1,042 km², KON6 is estimated to hold 382 million barrels of unrisked resources. Five wells have previously been drilled, with six leads evaluated in the first phase. Grupo Simples is targeting three primary leads – 1N, 1S, and 2 – and plans to launch additional seismic acquisition in January 2025, followed by the spudding of the first well in August 2025. The company seeks a partner to accelerate exploration and production activities, as well as diversify its risk.   

Licensing Opportunities – Democratic Republic of the Congo  

The Ministry of Hydrocarbons of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has entered into direct negotiations on all of its acreage. This includes the Cuvette Central Basin, with four drilled wells and proven source rocks; the Lake Albert Graben, featuring multi-BCF discoveries in Uganda with an undrilled DRC side; Lake Tanganyika, supported by existing 2D seismic data; and the Coastal Basin, aligned with the Cabinda fields’ trend. In the Lake Albert acreage, the Ministry plans to reprocess existing data, acquire new 3D seismic on selected structures, and launch a restricted call for tenders in June 2025. 

Carbon Limits Nigeria  

Carbon Limits Nigeria (CLN) is seeking new upstream partners for emission reduction projects; investors targeting emission reduction projects to gain carbon credit exposure; and/or buyers of carbon credits generated from projects. Pan-African in focus, CLN provides solutions on clean energy utilization, climate change mitigation and carbon assessment of projects. The company currently has projects in Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria, where it is leading flare projects in OMLs 98, 56, 53 and 24.  

License SL2020A – Sierra Leone  

Innoson Oil and Gas is offering a significant equity position in exploration license SL2020A, located in deepwater acreage offshore Sierra Leone with existing discoveries. This area is underexplored and has geological similarities to the conjugate margin of Guyana. Innoson recently secured a four-year license extension and is seeking a farm-in partner to assist with 3D seismic interpretation to assess prospectivity and facilitate a drill-or-drop decision by March 2028. To date, five large leads have been mapped using 2D data, bringing the total to 16 leads, along with two wildcat wells drilled and three major discoveries: Venus, Mercury and Jupiter. 

Diender Permit – Senegal 

Africa Fortesa Corporation is seeking to farm out part of its interest in the Diender PSA Permit onshore Senegal, which boasts a scalable production base with significant transformational upside. This permit is part of the same play as the Sangomar field and has multiple TCF of recoverable gas potential, along with low exploration and production cost thresholds and strong local gas market demand. The planned work program includes drilling the Gadiaga field development well, followed by a three-well drilling program at NBW-1, AT-1PM and AT-2, as well as four appraisal wells. Africa Fortesa is looking for future funding for appraisal wells, field development and infrastructure partnerships for midstream and virtual pipelines. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.

The Sanha Lean Gas Connection project will deliver gas to the Angolan LNG facility

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 5, 2024/APO Group/ — 

The Sanha Lean Gas Connection Project in Angola will start production in December 2024, according to Chevron. Speaking during an Invest in Angola Energies roundtable – sponsored by the ANPG, Sonangol, Azule Energy and ACREP – at African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energies 2024 on Monday, Toni Henning, Commercial General Manager at Chevron’s Southern Africa Strategic Business Unit, said that the project will deliver gas to the Angola LNG facility.  

The $300 million project comprises the development of a platform that ties into the existing Sanha Condensate complex. Developed by Chevron, the project serves as part of a series of gas-focused investments the company is undertaking in Angola alongside various partners.  

“We have been in Angola for 70 years and it has only been possible because of our strong partners. We lead in gas and have a couple of projects underway. Sanha Lean Gas has always been part of our gas profile in Angola. We had it fabricated in Lobito, with 1,000 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs created,” Henning said.  

In addition to the Sanha project, Angola’s New Gas Consortium (NGC) expects production to start at the Quiluma and Maboqueiro fields in late-2025 or early-2026, according to Adriano Mongini, CEO of NGC operator Azule Energy.  

“The project is progressing well and we are planning start-up for late-2025. This is the first non-associated gas project in Angola, and hopefully, the first of many,” he said.  

Beyond gas, Angola – sub-Saharan Africa’s second largest oil producer – aims to maintain production above one million barrels per day beyond 2027. To achieve this, the government is incentivizing investment in exploration, with the National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG) preparing to launch its 2025 Bid Round in Q1 of next year. The round features part of a series of reforms aimed at driving exploration and production.  

“We wanted to make the business environment more transparent and more competitive. We have marginal field opportunities and new legislation for gas, making it possible for investors to have gas rights,” said Alcides Andrades, Executive Board Member, ANPG.  

We have marginal field opportunities and new legislation for gas, making it possible for investors to have gas rights

Through its multi-faceted investment approach, Angola is consolidating its position as an oil and gas heavyweight, and recent developments point to that. TotalEnergies and project partners on the Kaminho Development in Block 20/11 made $6 billion FID in 2024, for example.  

According to Rui Rodrigues, Director, TotalEnergies EP Angola, “the significance of the Kaminho project is that we are opening a new province in Angola. The majority of Angola’s production is derived from the north, but with Kaminho, we are diversifying supply.” He added that TotalEnergies is “on track to deliver the project by 2028.”  

TotalEnergies also anticipates the Begonia field development to start production in the coming months. McDermott International is leading the EPC support for the project. Mahesh Swaminathan, Senior Vice President: Global Business Vertical Head at McDermott International explained that “from an engineering perspective, we are nearly done. The vessel will enter any time soon. We are nearly completed and it’s an exciting development.”  

In addition to Begonia, McDermott International is focusing on capacity building in Angola. Swaminathan said that “We are setting up an engineering office in Angola, where we will train engineers from across the world.”  

Beyond Kaminho, Angola has an exciting pipeline of projects underway. Katrina Fisher, Lead Country Manager and General Manager at ExxonMobil, shared insight into Block 15 – one of Angola’s longest-producing assets.  

“We celebrated our 30th anniversary of Block 15 in August 2024 and we also recently made a discovery – Likember-01 – at the block, representing our 19th discovery at Block 15. With this, we have increased our production by 30% and offset decline.”  

Angola’s NOC Sonangol – in addition to driving upstream projects – is committed to boosting refining capacity in Angola. Sonangol’s Board Director Kátia Epalanga said that “We are seeking more than 400,000 bpd in refining capacity by 2027. The three new refineries underway will help us reach this capacity.”  

For international service companies such as SLB, Angola is ripe with opportunity. According to SLB’s Managing Director – Central, East and Southern Africa, Miguel Baptista, “In 2024, we celebrated 55 years of operations in Angola. We continue to see a lot of activity happening across the life of the oilfield. With this, there is good opportunity for the industry to push the boundaries of technology.”  

Angola also represents an exciting market for independents. Afentra, for example, which entered the market three years ago, is “focusing on growth in Angola: growth on the Kwanza Basin, growth on Block 3/05 and growth with regards to new deals,” according to the company’s COO Ian Cloke. Cloke considers Angola to be “a fantastic market to be in.”  

The same can be said for AA&R Investment, which has not yet entered the Angolan market. Abdullahi Bashir, Haske Group, the company’s Managing Director, explained that “Angola is the right place to be and we are looking for opportunity there. We are looking at onshore and offshore blocks and we are looking at participating in the bid round.”  

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.