United Meridian Corp. (UMC), Houston, has received a boost for its planned $100 million development of Kudu gas find off Côte d'Ivoire, signing a 10-year take-or-pay contract to meet power generation needs in Abidjan.
The company will supply a total of 170 bcf, delivering a minimum of 30 MMcfd for 2 years, with volumes stepping up to 50 MMcfd in the third year and beyond.
UMC, 45% interest holder and operator and partners Petroci, Côte d'Ivoire's national oil company, 40%, and South Korea's Yukong Ltd., 15%, will receive $1.67/MMBTU for the first 20 MMcfd and $1.50/MMBTU for daily volumes exceeding this amount through February 2000.
The price then will be pegged to the price of West Texas intermediate crude oil. At $20/bbl, this would yield a gas price of about $2.40/Mcf. Sales are expected to begin in early 1998, when Côte d'Ivoire's newest power generation plant comes on stream.
UMC plans to supply gas for the new contract from Kudu, Eland, and Gazelle fields on Blocks CI-01 and CI-02, the blocks nearest Ghana. UMC's recent 1 Kudu well confirmed Kudu as a major field capable of delivering as much as 80 MMcfd for power generation needs both in Abidjan and Ghana (OGJ, Mar. 17, 1997, p. 111).
The new gas sales contract, along with an earlier contract for gas sales from Block CI-11, underpin UMC's plans to build a liquefied petroleum gas extraction plant at Abidjan. Design and engineering is now under way for a 1,200 b/d capacity plant that will receive 100 MMcfd from Blocks CI-01 and CI-11 to supply local markets.
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