Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Dec. 11 -- OAO Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Polish state-owned PGNiG, and Algeria's Sonatrach have emerged among initial winners of Libya's first gas licensing round.
Gazprom was awarded onshore Area 64 in the Ghadames basin, and senior company officials have discussed additional areas of oil and gas cooperation in Africa with Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Co. (NOC).
Gazprom will invest more than $100 million on its exploration program. "According to the preliminary estimations the Block 64 oil reserves are 20 million tons," the company said.
Shell won Blocks 1 and 3–spanning 1,790 sq km–in the Sirte basin, which is adjacent to other acreage it already has, a company spokeswoman told OGJ. She added it enables Shell to "open up a new area in the southern flank of the Sirte basin." The new licenses will reinforce the company's relationship with NOC.
Sonatrach will work with partners Oil India Ltd. and Indian Oil Corp. to develop four blocks comprising 6,934 sq km in the Ghadames basin. Sonatrach said the award reinforced its presence in Libya where it operates Block 65 in the same basin.
PGNiG will explore Block 113 in the Murzuq basin in western Libya, which covers 5,494 sq km. "The high prospectively of this area is confirmed both by the adjacent existing fields and the reported discoveries within this petroleum basin," PGNiG said. It plans to sign the exploration and production-sharing agreement with NOC in the next 3 months.
Libya invited companies to bid for 41 onshore and offshore blocks earlier this year in preparation to improve gas production to 3 bcfd by 2010 from 2.7 bcfd currently. Ghanem said more winners could be announced in a week.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
