Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons expects offshore production-sharing contracts to be signed by Sept. 15 by six bid-round winners announced at the Africa Oil & Power conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
For a seventh license, ExxonMobil Corp. already has signed a PSC covering Block EG-11, which it acquired through direction negotiation (OGJ Online, June 5, 2017).
Negotiations for PSCs of the open-bidding blocks will begin June 19.
The ministry offered 17 blocks in a bidding round that opened in June 2016. It received expressions of interest from 23 companies and bids from 12 companies.
Winning bidders and their blocks are Ophir Energy, EG-24; Offshore Equator PLC, EG-23; Contarf Energy, EG-18; Elenilto, EG-09; Taleveras, EG-07; and Atlas Petroleum and Strategic Fuel Fund, EG-10.