"I heard that in the past few days," he said, returning a call from this reporter.
Hon. Howard Franklin Jeter
Ambassador Jeter said that the treaty that guaranteed rights in the Joint Development Zone between Nigeria and Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea was a "great" achievement because it allowed the 150,000-population island nation to share a vast resource on a 60-40 basis with Nigeria, a nation of 130 million people.
Ambassador Jeter said he was busy preparing for President Olusegun Obasanjo's visit tomorrow to the White House and for a trip to Nigeria next week, but would participate in a PalTalk discussion on Nigeria with ERHC On The Move when he returns. ERHC Energy will not be part of the discussion.
Asked about his service on the ERHC Energy board, the Ambassador - who now heads the Washington, D.C.-based relief agency GoodWorks - said he is still awaiting a "full briefing" on the company and had not accepted any shares in return for his service.
He hoped to get more information on the company at the next board meeting, but no date has been set for that, he said. He referred other questions to ERHC President Ali Memon in Houston.
Agreeing that there may be a lack of communication from the company with shareholders, he said "Communications can always be improved. That's true of governments, too."
Ambassador Jeter also said he had no definitive word on when the awards process would be finalized, but said that he heard in passing - and that the information was "far from definitive" = that awards would occur "next week."
"I heard that from someone last week," he said, stressing that it was an opinion offered in passing, not a fact to rely upon.
When asked about news articles appearing in Tela Non and Vitrina, two Sao Tome Websites, the Clinton appointee warned that newspaper reporting in the region should not be relied upon for accurate information.
The news he offered of ExxonMobil's withdrawal from Block 1 is startling, however.
He said he was not referring to the company's decision not to exercise its options in the current round of licensing on Blocks 2 and 4. "This was something different than that," he said, that he was told "just a few days ago.".
He urged ERHC On The Move to check the ExxonMobil Website for confirmation, but the only release there with respect to the Block 1 contract said only that ExxonMobil had signed it. The Joint Development Authority that administers the licensing rounds said recently that it the $123 million signature bonus fees from the companies involved has been "transmitted." Sao Tome has not yet received its $49 million share, however.
However, it is an extensive Website and the information may be available elsewhere on it or not yet published.
Update, 10:05pm, 5/4/05 ExxonMobil has been known to be unhappy with the outcome of negotiations for additional blocks for which it had preferential rights in the second round.
The principal blocks in the offer, Blocks 2 and 4, have gone to ERHC and its partners Devon Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources in Block 2 and ERHC Energy and Noble Energy in Block 4. Block 3 was won by Anadarko, a knowledgeable source (not Ambassador Jeter) told ERHC On The Move late Tuesday night.
ExxonMobil had made an extensive effort to be awarded Block 4 as a junior partner with Anadarko, but was rebuffed by the Joint Development Authority because its technical bid was not as compelling as that from ERHC and Noble Energy, who offered to sink three wells in one year and pay the full signature bonus upon signing a production contract, while Anadarko Petroleum reportedly preferred to pay the bonus in staggered amounts and would only sink one well in three years, according to UpstreamOnline reporter Barry Morgan's articles last Fall.
13 comments:
Joe thank you for posting my comments this morning regarding Nigeria and Sao Tome. Feel free to repost it anytime you would like.
I hate to say it but to me it looks like things are beginning to unravel. The constant delays and political infighting are killing this whole process. You would have thought that all of this would have been solved already. We were told by the JDA two months ago that the disagreements between Sao Tome and Nigeria were minor and were taken care of. Well apparently not.
I have a feeling the person from the JDA who spoke to Mark this morning was giving him maximum spin. They always try to make it seem as if everything is fine when in reality it is not. How are they even believable at this point?
I would be shocked to get a postiive PR from the JDA. And i would be even more shocked to get award announcements anytime soon. It looks as if we have a long way to go.
I hope I am wrong but at this point I am not listening to anymore words unless it is in the form of actual awards.
Ruby you misread the comments by Jeeter. He did NOT say awards next week.
He said last week that it was far from definitive that awards would occur next week.
(Translation, it was far from definitive that awards would be made this week.)
So apparently members of the JDA including Sam Dimka flew to Sao Tome to meet with the politicians their to help smooth things over and explain why awards had been made the way they were.
Then this morning Mark called the JDA and they told him everything had been taken care of and that it would be PR'd today.
Then this afternoon the Oil Ministry of Sao Tome met today and rejected the whole process. Therefore, the JDA's trip to Sao Tome didnt work.
So apparently that is why there has been no PR. Because despite what they told Mark this morning, things were not resolved.
So now what?
That is the next question..
What needs to happen os for Obasanjo and Menenez to step in and try taking control.
Well if Exxon did indeed pull out of Block 1 at least it had nothing to do with ERHE. ERHE isnt in Block 1. So I wonder why they would pull out.
Another thing I dont understand is how could they have pulled out when the signature bonus had been paid?
Maybe Mr. Jeter had his blocks confused.
Now we know why the source from the JDA wouldn't give out his name.
Joe,
Wow, your actually starting to resemble a journalist. Keep this up and stop regurgitating RB and maybe people will stop telling you to stfu.
Memo to the JDA, Nigeria, and Sao Tome:
You had better complete this awards process as soon as possible or there will be serious financial ramifications for both countries going forward.
If you even attempt a rebid what do you think will occur? Do you think you will get more interest and higher bids? Or less interest and lower bids?
Let me give you a hint. No mid tier or major oil company will want to do business in this part of the world again. So it will be a much lower bids and much less interest.
You are costing yourself millions and millions of dollars by delaying this further. Look how much time and money you have lost just by letting this thing drag out for the last year.
Think of how much further along and how closer you would have been to actual oil revenues had you awarded these blocks a year ago.
Now a whole year has passed and still no awards. This is not a smart business decision for either country to let these delays continue.
You should expedite this process as soon as possible for all parties involved.
So XOM just walked away from a
written contract! I don't think so!
XOM may be arrogant and predatory but they aren't stupid. They won't walk away from a billion barrel 'elephant' in concert with a domestic friend in CVX.
Jeter spent his entire career as a diplomat. He knows enough not speak about such things to even trusted colleagues, let alone a guy who calls him cold. Don't believe a word of this rubbish.
Joe if you want to make some real money come up with a Joe Shea punching bag blowup doll.
These people want to blame you for everything and they could take out their frustrations. lol
Never mind the fact that your sources such as Mutwadadi have been proven correct time and time again.
Instead they get strung along like puppy dogs to Swinging K whose sources are almost always wrong.
Yeah that makes alot of sense. Joe I take issue with your headlines because they tend to exagerate. But the content is usually correct.
Mutwadadi was the one who told us Exxon had been granted an extension. Where were Swinging K and the egotistical maniac Markvol with such news??
They were a day late and a dollar short as usual.
And no Markvol and Swinging K, its nothing personal with either one of you. I appreciate your updates.
But your sources have been wrong time and time again. Is that your fault? Of course not.
But to act like everything on this blog and everything you guys say is correct is utter nonsense.
Mutwadadi has been the most accurate poster of anyone anywhere. So dont totally knock the blog all of the time.
It has some positive aspects to it as well.
I'm not a student of political science, but it seems to me the governing bodies of these countries hold the means to significantly IMPROVE the plight of their peoples but they let petty bickering and GREED blind them to taking the ACTION necessary to begin that journey. Apparently, they must not realize or grasp that until the wells are in place, drilling starts and oil begins to flow, they shall never reap the benefits of the resource that God has placed in their charge.
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