The in-depth examination comes after the Washington bureau senior writer on the story contacted dozens of figures throughout the world, including President Fradique de Menezes of Sao Tome, Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority executive director Carlos Gomes, and ERHC CEO Ali Memon in order to limn the story of a tiny Louisiana firm that nearly went broke before it became a major player in the JDA's Joint Development Zone, a region of the Gulf of Guinea where studies suggest there may be anywhere between 4 billion and 12 billion barrels of untapped crude oil to satisfy the hungry petroleum markets of the world.
Block awards by the JDA for Blocks 2, 3 4, 5 and 6 of the JDZ are pending a decision by ExxonMobil to either exercise preferential rights to 25 percent allocations of any of the two blocks on offer, to farm them out to other explorers, or to forgo them for later choices in future JDA rounds.
Also on the news front, Nigeria's The Guardian reported on comments from national petroleum advisor Dr. Edmund Daukoru to the News Agency of Nigeria in which Daukoru again promised that the twice-delayed start of a bidding round on 80 Nigerian blocks is moving into an "advanced stage," but he did not give a date for the event, which is generally thought to be virtually the same date that the winners of the JDZ blocks are announced.
Here is the article from The Guardian:
Investors await presidential nod on 2005 oil block award
ABUJA (NAN) -- PRESIDENTIAL adviser on petroleum and energy Edmund Daukoru says preparations have reached advanced stage for the 2005 bidding round.
Daukoru confirmed to the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Abuja that the exercise would be conducted once the technical details were put in place.
"I have just submitted the bidding round documents to the President last Friday and he needs time to study them before opening the bid," he said.
He said 80 oil blocks would be put on offer both in the inland basin, onshore and deep water offshore for every player big or small to benefit.
The presidential aide expressed optimism that the exercise would attract multinationals as well as indigenous oil companies and that it would be conducted in a transparent manner.
Daukoru denied reports that lack of presidential approval delayed the bid round from opening in February as earlier scheduled.
"I will like to make it abundantly clear that presidential approval not delaying the process leading to the 2005 oil blocks bidding round," he said.
He said there was need for the government to be flexible on the timing due to the complex and technical nature of the exercise.
He gave the assurance that the exercise would soon be conducted with minimum delay.
1 comment:
Not all the people the reporter contacted have gotten back to him, I should add.
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