Dow Jones: Dimka 'Doesn't Say When' Awards May Come

The spokesman for the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority, Sam Dimka, did not offer a possible date for the awards of blocks in the Gulf of Guinea's Joint Development Zone operated by the two countries when interviewed today by an Abuja-based stringer working with Norval Scott of the Dow Jones News Service, one of the world's most knowledgeable writers on West African oil issues.

Scott, as Reuters did yesterday afternoon, wrote about the sacking of Sao Tome's top presidential advisor on petroleum, Patrice Trovoada, bny Sao Tome President Fradique de Menezes on Saturday. The firing came on the heels of an impasse in the country's acceptance of award recommendations made before May 4 by the Joint Ministerial Council that governs the JDZ.

Trovoada was reportedly a shareholder in one of the Nigerian independent oil companies that did not receive a block award recommendations from the JMC and was presumably removed due to a conflict of interest. Now he can mount a presidential campaign based on opposing the awards to ERHC Energy.

Trovoada, a possible candidate for President against de Menezes in next year's elections and the son of former president Miguel Trovoada, told the Portuguese national radio RDP that he was thankful for the firing, which gave him "free space" to criticize De Menezes.

However, Scott said the awards process was "just days" away even as he hints of possible delays in the awards, which Reuters did not.

ERHC On The Move on Saturday said the awards process could be delayed "for months" by the need for what President de Menezes calls "unanimity" among three separate bodies regarding the awards, which reportedly have favored ERHC Energy with operatorships on Blocks 2 and 4.

That statement was greeted with a vast range of emotions by more than 5,000 visitors to this site, most of them investors who left more than 70 comments on the topic ranging from vulgar outrage to calm acceptance.

Meanwhile, the Joint Development Authority has not said when awards may occur, while ERHC Energy, in a press release May 4, said the JDA had told it the awards may be this week.

Both releases were apparently precipitated not by imminent awards but by a desire to cushion Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo from possible questions about the process from White House reporters durig a visit there last week in response to a protest mounted by ERHC On The Move that included contacts with a number of White House beat reporters asking why debt relief is sought by both countries when they have failed to award blocks that would bring both nations hundreds of millions of dollars in immediate cash relief and billions in oil royalties soon. However, no questions were taken by the Nigerian president when he appeared briefly with President Bush at the White House Thursday.

Here is this mormning's Dow Jones report by Norval Scott:

DJ Sao Tomean Oil Adviser Sacked Ahead Of JDZ Awards
by Norval Scott
Dow Jones News Services
05/09/2005

LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Sao Tomean President Fradique de Menezes has fired his oil adviser just days before the country is expected to complete its current oil licensing round.

A presidential decree, seen by Dow Jones Newswires, dismisses Patrice Trovoada from his position with immediate effect. The decree, dated from May 5, gives no reason as to why the adviser was removed, although it does say the move takes into account recent developments in the country's "petroleum dossier".

The decision appears significant, given current developments in the Joint Development Zone, a maritime region that Sao Tome jointly licenses with Nigeria. Five blocks are set to be awarded imminently in the JDZ, a region believed to have very good oil prospects.

The conclusion of the JDZ licensing process has dragged on since it began in April 2003. Carlos Gomes, Sao Tome's chief representative on the two countries' Joint Development Authority, said in April that block awards should be made by the end of that month, but the round has run into further unspecified delays.

According to sources close to the negotiating process, there has been continuing debate between Nigeria and Sao Tome over which companies should be awarded the acreage on offer, with the award of operatorships for Blocks 3 and 4 believed to be the main sticking point.

ERHC Energy (ERHE), a US-based company that has already been awarded preferential rights in the JDZ, released a press statement May 5 stating the Joint Ministerial Council, which oversees the JDZ, has submitted its recommendations on the structure and final awards of the blocks on offer, and that these now need to be endorsed by the respective heads of state.

As soon as this is done, ERHC says, the Joint Development Authority will announce the results of the licensing round.

"The JDA expects that this will take place before the end of (this) week," the ERHC statement says.

JDA spokesman Sam Dimka confirmed to Dow Jones Newswires that the JMC had submitted its award recommendations, and that the process now hinged on the approval of the Nigerian and Sao Tomean presidents. He didn't say when those approvals might be granted.

-By Norval Scott, Dow Jones Newswires; +44-20-7842-9344; norval.scott@dowjones.com

(Vincent Nwanma in Lagos contributed to this story.)

Corrected May 9, 2005 07:33 ET (11:33 GMT)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-09-05 0611ET

DJ CORRECT: Sao Tomean Oil Adviser Sacked, Not Minister