THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 10. 2011
NPDC/SEPLAT JV sign MOU with host communities Martin Ayankola
S
EPLAT Petroleum Development Company Limited. the operator of NPDC/SEPLAT Joint Venture, has signed a Global Memorandum of Understanding with host communitiesinitsoperational
areas
in
Amui<pe,
Oben.
Sapele and Ugborhen. The event, which held recently at Okpe Hall, Sapele. was well attended by traditional rulers,
representatives of the host communities, their legal team
as' well as key management
oil in the communities for
members of staff of Nigeria Petroleum Development Company and Sepia!. Speaking at the event, Chairman of the oil
years. The
producing
communities,
Chief Onoriode Temiagin, recalled the brief history of the relationship between the communities and the joint venture.
He said took off on an apprehensive note, following the sudden disengagement of the former operators who had explored and exploited
apprehension of the communities was put to rest almost immediately by NPDC/SEPLAT whom Chief Temiagin said showed from the outset "a
great
commitment
to
e~tablishing a good working relationship with their host communities. " He commended all those who expeditiously facilitated the GMoU. He thanked the Managing Director of Seplat, Mr. Austin Avuru, for what
he described as his "personal intervention and in-depth
understanding of the obligations of both parties. He also commended his felJow representatives of the host communities,
traditional rulers, elders, youths and other groups for their valuable contributions and patience throughout the
process Responding, Avuru thanked the host communities for providing the conducive environment for the JV to carry out its
operations.
He noted that the relationship between NPDC/ SEPLAT Joint Venture and the host communities should be hinged on "trust", which he said was "the bedrock of every relationship." He recalled the series of
meetings and consultations that
led
to
the
signing
ceremony and noted that the communities were entering into "a new phase
of development because the NPDC/SEPLAT Joint Venture was committed to
entrenching
a
culture
of mutually beneficial stakeholder relationships." To conclude the signing ceremony, a symbolic key signifying the jOint venture access to the communities
was unveiled.
Registered in 2009 as a Special Purpose Vehicle for the acquisition of 45 per cent interest in Oil Mining Leases 4, 38 and 41, SEPLAT is a
Nigerian
Company two
Independent
promoted
reputable
by
indigenous
Companies,Shebah Petroleum and Platform Petroleum and a French Independent company, Maurel and Prom. The GMOU provides for a win-win collaboration structure
with direct participation by the community
right
representatives'
from
budgeting,
conception, projects execution and commissioning in the host communities.
It focuses transparency, sustainable
community
deve!opmenVempowerment
and human development.
capital
Bowleven halts Sapele-l drilling IM-listed Bowleven has halted drilling and sealed its Sapele-l wildcat offshore Cameroon after it encountered a high-
A
"due to technical limitations" after encountering "a rapid influx of ver~' high-pressure gas," the company said in a statement.
pressure gas reservoir in the
â&#x20AC;˘ L-R: Group Chief Executive Officer, Osmoserve Global Oil Services Limited, Mr. Scot Tommey; Group Executive Officer, UTM Dredging Limited, Mr. Julius Rone; and Managing Director/CEO Tromp Media Limited, Mr. Tunde Adeboye, during a press conference by both firms on Independent Power Projects to be sited in four locations across the country, in Abuja ... on Friday.
Cretaceous. According to upstreamonline.com, the West Africa-focused explorer drilled the well in the Douala basin to a total depth of4, 733 metres after it identified hydrocarbon targets beneath the original planned depth of 4,450 metres. Bowleven halted drilling
S'African farmers protest Shell's shale gas plan the ground without permits
plans to seek shale gas in South Africa's semi-desert Karoo region, as farmers fear methods used to extract
told Reuters on Wednesday. He said farmers were worried about the sensitivity of the underground water systems upon which the Karoo is totally dependent,
will contaminate water and
should contamination occur.
unproven technotogy with
A it
NGLO-Dutch
Shell
is
facing opposition to its
harm the environment.
The outcome 01. whether Shell is allowed to proceed could affect prospects for
drilling technique. "We've got serious
unacceptable fresh
and Mark
some
concerns
!racking, it is as
water
about
yet an
risks
for
abstraction
poliution," Botha,
said Head
other oil and gas companies
energy companies there may
in the Karoo, which may hold subslantial deposits of gas in shale. Petrochemicals group Sasol, Anglo American, Falcon Oil and Gas, and Bundu Gas and Oil Exploration, are among those eyeing shale gas in the region, Reuters reported.
have violated environmental
of Conservation at Environmental group,
rules by injecting diesel into
WWF South Africa.
Public concern focuses on the extraction method in
which drillers blast millions of Iitres of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure in undergrGund rock formations to create cracks for gas and oil to escape easier.
"We are very concerned
about the environmental impact, especially because fracking is not regulated in South Africa," Derek Light, a lawyer representing a number of Karoo land owners and interested parties
..
According to findings from a United States Congressional probe released on Monday, several
as part of the controversial
Frontiers: NITED Kingdom's explorer Tullow Oil, is targeting about one billion barrels of resources in South America and West Nrica. Tullow plans to explore for
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oil in Uberia, Sierra Leone, and Mauritania in Africa, and French Guiana and Guyana in
South America, Chief Financial Officer Ian Springe!! said. The Zaedyus prospect in French Guiana and Cobalt in Uberia are the "two big ones," he said. The company also plans to continue exploration in Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Tanzania. and Kenya in East Africa, according to a statement on Tuesday.
"We now have an extensive
substantial resources."
interval
logging was
not
possible and the boltomhole section is being abandoned in advance of
planned appraisal drming," on the Etinde permit." Bowleven said.
The company has contracted an additional jack-up rig, the Vantage Sapphire Driller, which it expects to be mobilised from Gabon later this month. The
contract
contains
has held
He said Shell noted the
wells plus one contingent
public consultations as part of tts environmental impact assessment, said in
public's concerns and would
well with a day rate of $120,000.
January that it had applied to Petroleum Agency South Africa for exploration rights in the Karoo. "Fracking is the best method to extract gas that is trapped in shale," Phaldie Kalam, Vice-President, Communications for Shell Africa told Reuters.
plan currently under design, with the final version to be handed in by April. of Mineral Minister Resources Susan Shabangu on Tuesday placed an
Shell, which
guidance of 95,000 boepd, partly because the ramp-up of output from Jubilee was likely to take up to six months, Springe!! said. The field is currently pumping 50,000 barrels of oil per day and will reach
Tullow plans to invest at
least $500m to drill about 40 exploration and appraisal wells this year, he said. The company will increase production by 58 per cent to as much as 92,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year after starting output at the Jubilee field in Ghana in November. The new forecast "is a-little bit lower" than the previous
the
a programme of three firm
incorporate
that
into
an
environmental management
indefinite
moratorium
on
the processing of all new exploration and production
rights in the Karoo.
Tullow eyes one billion barrels exploration campaign where we are looking to open new basins wherewe seeexcitingprospecls," Springe!! told Bloomberg in a phone interview. ''A number of these wells are targeting very
"Consequently, of
120,000 bpd later this year, according to TuUow.
Richard Griffith, a Londonbased analyst at Evolution Securities, said Tullow's wells in South America might open "up a new play in which Tullow has Significant acreage."
TPDC to unveil April bidding round
T
HE Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation
is set to unveil its fourth
deepwater offshore bidding round in April. "The round will include J)3, .. , blocks sitting between' 1,200 . â&#x20AC;˘ . metres to 3,500 metres of water depth. The blocks for offer include new areas and blocks to be relinquished," TPDC's principal petroleum geologist, Sebastian Shana, told Reuters. Shana said TPDC had 25 offshore blocks, adding that 12 were already licensed while 13 remained unallocated.
Circle makes Moroccan gas discovery
L
ONDON-listed Circle Oil has confirmed a gas discovery in its Sebou permit, in Moroccos RharlJ basin. The DRJ-6 exploration well, drilled in April 2009 and not tested at the time due to logistical problems, tested gas at a rate of 5.4. million oubic feet of gas per day on a 26164-inch choke.
Aa:on:ling 10 a report by upstrarnoniine.com,whiIe a full 1echnicaI evaluation of all the resulis is underway, the is being rompleled as a potential producer. The company will move ils drilling rig to the site of ils KSR10 well after bad weather caused some flooding in the permit area. It expecls to store the rig for
wen
between two and three weeks before starting drilling on the KSR-II exploration well.
The company's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Chris Green,
said the sua:essful testing meant the fust six wells drilled in the company's fust drilling campaign had come back with a 100 per cent su= rate.