Total Inks Offshore Deal with Guinea-Conakry
Total said on October 9 that it has signed a Technical Evaluation Agreement with the Republic of Guinea's upstream regulator, the National Office of Petroleum of Guinea (ONAP).
The agreement is to study deep and ultra-deepwater areas located offshore from the country covering some 55,000 km2.
Total will have a year to assess the potential of the basin on the basis of existing data. At the end of this period, it will select three licenses to start an exploration programme. As part of the agreement, Total will also train ONAP staff to develop their technical skills in exploration and production.
Already this year Total has acquired new deepwater blocks offshore west and northwest Africa, in offshore Mauritania and (contested) blocks offshore Senegal. Meanwhile BP and Kosmos – also active in both those countries – are seeking acreage offshore Sao Tome e Principe. Chinese state-owned company CNOOC is also seeking Mauritanian acreage, having recently farmed into joint Guinea-Bissau/Senegalese acreage, and already has blocks offshore Guinea.
US explorer Hyperdynamics said on September 21 that it has notified the Guinean government that it will seek a two-year appraisal period under its offshore contract, where it recently drilled the unsuccessful Fatala-1 exploration well in partnership with 50% stake-holder Sapetro, and has a meeting with ONAP at the end of this month.
Meanwhile in Ghana's capital Accra, an explosion and fire at a fuel depot in the evening of October 7 killed at least six people and injured dozens. Reuters said that the site includes a liquid petroleum gas (not natural gas) storage depot and two service stations jointly run by the state and Total.
Map credit: Total
Mark Smedley