Equatorial Guinea has signed agreements with firms including Lukoil and Noble Energy to develop 27 oil exploration blocks, African Chambers has said.

The Different MOU’s were signed by Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, The country’s Minister for Mines and hydrocarbons with bidders of the country’s 2019 Licensing Round At the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi on Monday, 13th January 2020.

In 2019, the government offered 27 free blocks for exploration. The licensing round generated interest from 53 companies and resulted in 17 bids.

The signing of these agreements will enable the fast completion of the Production Sharing Contracts.

Apart from signing the agreements for oil and gas blocks, the ministry also signed MOU’s with other firms to explore solid minerals such as copper, rare earth elements, PGE, gold, lead, uranium, and bauxite among others; across the country.

“The results coming out of the EG Ronda 2019 were very encouraging and we hope to see a robust and sustained exploration activity in Equatorial Guinea once these contracts are signed. In 2020, the Year of Investment will see the signing and execution of several such contracts and projects, not only in upstream but also midstream and downstream,” Lima said.

African Energy Chamber has noted that exploration activity has been slowly recovering in the Gulf of Guinea.

“In 2019 for instance, Noble Energy announced a discovery after drilling the Aseng 6P well at a depth of 4,000 meters in Equatorial Guinea, confirming expectations that the country remains a promising frontier for oil and gas exploration. Recent discoveries are expected to add an additional 20,000 bopd to Equatorial Guinea’s oil production this year,” African Energy Chamber said.

Culled from www.oedigital.com