In the past twelve months, Pioneer has made significant strides toward building a strong position in deepwater West Africa. The Company expects that rights to new West Africa acreage in the Niger Delta will be granted during 2005, possibly including two highly-prospective blocks in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) of Nigeria/Sao Tome and Principe where bids have been submitted. Pioneer expects to participate in two to three high-impact deepwater wells in the area, one of which will be drilled on its current acreage in Equatorial Guinea.
The company has rarely mentioned its bids in earlier press releases, limiting itself to one brief statement on page 32 of a months-old presentation about all its projects. But today's release is a distinct change in tenor.
Pioneer is partnered via an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ERHC to exploit the resources of Blocks 2 and 3. In both blocks, Pioneer is also linked up with Devon Energy (DVN), a larger mid-tier with wide experience in West Africa.
ERHC is partnered with Noble Drilling in Block 4, where Noble has promised to sink three wells in a year if selected over competitors Anadarko (which outbid ERHC by $1 million) and EEQ, which like ERHC also bid $40 million for the block.
Devon Energy, which has become the target of buyout rumors involving offshore giant ExxonMobil as a possible suitor, was up 0.33 at $37.94 in brisk trading at 10:50am EST.
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