Presidency Minister Nuno Morais Sarmento carried the message from Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes to Sao Tome counterpart Damiao Vaz Almeida in a trip to the African nation that ended on Monday, the Diario Economico newspaper said.
Portugal's Galpenergia is too late to bid on any of the five blocks currently on offer, although it conceivably could be traded into Block 1 if, as ERHC On The Move has suggested, the multinational giant ExxonMobil backs out of participation there.
The company is thought to be dissatisfied with the general tenor of activities at the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority, which has recently introduced new contract terms and other issues into the much-delayed negotiations of its proposed Production Sharing Contract following ChevronTexaco's successful bid for operatorship and 51 percent of Block 1. XOM, which has 40 percent, and Energy Equity Resources (EEQ), with nine percent, are other participants in that block.
The presence of a state player would bode well for development. There was an effort of some magnitude late last year to encourage Portugal, the former colonial ruler of the two-island nation of 140,000 people, to make a bid in the second round that opened on Nov. 15 and closed on Dec. 15.
Awards, which were supposed to be made on Dec. 31, are still pending for the five blocks on offer. Meanwhile, Nigeria's top oil official, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, has changed his original date for awards from Dec. 31 to "the end of January." The delays have frustrated and even enraged hopeful investors of the 23 companies that made bids for the five blocks in the second round.
The remaining JDZ/EEZ acreage, which consists of four blocks in Sao Tome's Exclusive Economic Zone and Blocks 7, 8 and 9 - and any of the nine original blocks that may be rebid in a coming third round of awards - would seem to offer opportunities for Galpernergia, however.
9 comments:
Chevron was named operator of block 1,not XOM.
I think you're wrong about that.
come on joe get the facts,
chevron is the operator of block one
Chevron was named operator of block 1
CVX---51%
XOM---40% (their preferential rights,only)
EER---9% (this was a surprise,until it was discovered that EER's owner had made a sizeable campaign contribution to Obasanjo's relection campaign)
EER---9% (this was a surprise,until it was discovered that EER's owner had made a sizeable campaign contribution to Obasanjo's relection campaign)
The owner is Obasanjo himself and this other guy is only a front. This is Nigeria and no surprise. Anyone who knows anything knows this!!
Come on Joe Reporter - fess up to being wrong about who was given operatorship of block 1!!!
I am mortified. Your posts concerning CVX are correct; it was the winner, not XOM. I hereby resign my post on the ChevronTexaco board of directors! Actually, our family has a substantial investment in CVX, and I am really, deeply chagrinned that I have blown this factoid. My apologies to you all.
I am mortified. Your posts concerning CVX are correct; it was the winner, not XOM. I hereby resign my post on the ChevronTexaco board of directors! Actually, our family has a substantial investment in CVX, and I am really, deeply chagrinned that I have blown this factoid. My apologies to you all.
Who is "our family"? Are you now going to claim that you and Offor are blood relatives and the two of you are planning a hostile takeover of Chevron/Texaco?
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