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Posted - 16 Mar 2018 : 13:53:26
14 companies applying for Gambia’s oil block: Minister
The Point: Friday, March 16, 2018
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/14-companies-applying-for-gambias-oil-block-minister
Gambia’s minister of Petroleum has said that over 14 companies have applied for various oil blocks, in the just-concluded international bidding process.
Speaking in an interview at his office, Fafa Sanyang said among the list of these companies is Eni, Tullow Oil, and PetroGas Malaysia. However, Exxon Oil and British Petroleum were not part of these companies showing interest in Gambian oil blocks, the minister added.
According to the minister, some of these companies are big names in the oil exploration, drilling and refinery business.
For example, Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gascompany headquartered in Rome. The company is considered one of the global supermajors, it has operations in 79 countries, and is currently world’s 11th largest industrial company.
Tullow Oil plc is another multinational company founded in Ireland with its headquarters in London. It has interests in over 150 licenses across 25 countries with 67 producing fields, with largest activities in Africa and the Atlantic Margins, where it has discovered new oil provinces in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and French Guiana.
Petrogas Ltd. is also incorporated in Ireland and operates a number of filling stations in that country and the United Kingdom. The company operates 155 service stations in Ireland, 69 in the U.K. and 6 in Long Island, New York.
“Gambia remains confident of the oil prospects in the blocks to be explored… The chances of getting a dry well are always high in the oil industry. Senegal had so many wells which turned out dry in the past. Even around the world, it is a 1 to 10 success chance. So, you can drill wells and they turn out dry, which could downgrade prospects but not in this region,” he argued.
Minister Sanyang said because of the discoveries made in Mauritania and Senegal, the prospects of the blocks in The Gambia “are very attractive”.
Blocks A2 and A5
FAR Ltd., Australian Securities Exchange listed from the New York and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, which acquired 80% working interest and operatorship in “the highly prospective” offshore Blocks A2 and A5 in The Gambia are currently engaged on environmental impact assessment on the fields they acquired.
The company is working on drilling towards the end of the year, the minister said.
Author: Sanna Camara |
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