Oil and gas company, ONE-Dyas, a joint venture between Oranje-Nassau Energie B.V. (ONE) and SHV Holdings that owns Dyas, has its quest for an extension of its upstream investment programme offshore Gabon approved for its offshore Kowe project.
ONE-Dyas said it has reached an agreement with the West African government to extend its involvement in the block for another 17 years paving the way for holding the rights until the end of production in 2036 “under a single tax regime applicable to operations at the Kowe block.”
The block, which is located 20km offshore Gabon in water depths of more than 300ft, contains three producing fields of the Tchatamba Complex, and the Agali Block, which the company says “has exploration potential.”
The agreement between Gabonese government and ONE-Dyas, Netherlands’ largest privately owned exploration and production company with more than 200 million boe of reserves and in total some 700 million boe of unrisked prospective resources, is expected to build up on key milestones in the country’s national offshore hydrocarbon’s development plan.
Some of these key changes in Gabon’s hydrocarbons in 2019 include the appointment of a new Petroleum and Hydrocarbons Minister Mr Noel Mboumba and publication of a new hydrocarbons law to coincide with the 12th licensing round involving 12 shallow water and 23 deep-water blocks, a process that was initially scheduled for closure in the first quarter of 2020.
Although the agreement between ONE-Dyas and Gabon involves largely a shallow water asset, the Ministry of Petroleum and Hydrocarbons says the country has now improved the imaging of modern seismic, particularly 3D seismic, making it possible for potential explorers to identify “new traps and reservoirs which previous technologies were unable to image.”
The Ministry says the government would ensure international oil companies and even independent explorers and producers have access to the best available seismic.
One way Gabon’s Petroleum and Hydrocarbons Ministry is wooing potential offshore oil and gas suitors under the 12th licensing round include provision and making available data on the already identified hydrocarbons trapped in reservoirs and which the Mboumba told a recent international oil forum in Cape Town “has never been seen before.”
He said the detailed and modern acquired seismic data with well data would make it possible for oil and gas explorers to understand the country’s hydrocarbon system and gives them “new investment opportunities to discover significant volumes of new oil.”
For ONE-Dyas, which presently produces some 35,000 boe/day both from its fields in the North Sea and offshore Gabon, the additional period for participation in West Africa, falls in line with its shareholder approved strategic and exponential growth plan including taking “advantage of attractive investment opportunities to expand our West African operated asset base.”
The company looks forward to leveraging opportunities in emerging and higher-risk regions such as West Africa with those in competitive and low-risk markets such as the North Sea in its drive to build “a diversified multi-asset portfolio spanning diverse geographical regions, with enormous upside and production potential.”
Going forward, Gabonese government says it has put in place infrastructure that enables ONE-Dyas and other international oil and gas exploration and production companies to rapidly develop the discovered hydrocarbon reserves.
“In hand with this, the new fiscal terms for sharing revenue from production being introduced by the General Directorate of Hydrocarbons (DGH) allows companies to recover investment quicker, and to improve investment returns, reflecting the risks of investment in exploration and development,” the Ministry said earlier.
As ONE-Dyas relishes the new developments in offshore Gabon, observers will be waiting to see how the government of the West African country will not only woo more investors to its offshore plays but also how it will create a conducive environment for the smooth operations of those already engaged in both shallow and deep water exploration and production.
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