JDZ: Chevron, 2 Others to Pay $123m
US to strengthen security in Gulf of Guinea
By Mike Oduniyi with Agency report
US oil major Chevron-Texaco and two other companies are to pay $123 million as signature bonus for the acquisition of an oil bloc in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) of the Gulf of Guinea, being managed by Nigeria and the Republic of Sao Tome and Principe.
The other two firms are ExxonMobil and Norway's Equity Energy Resources (EER). The three oil companies were awarded equity interest in Oil Bloc 01, one of the nine oil blocs put on offer by the Joint Development Authority (JDA) early this year.
However, the prospect of crude oil production from the Gulf of Guinea, may see the United States re-shaping its defence policy to focus more on countries in the region especially Nigeria.
THISDAY checks reveal that the oil firms are presently negotiating on the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) agreement that will govern the administration of the oil acreage.
Sources at the JDA disclosed that the parties had been given up till end of August to conclude negotiations on the agreement by end of next month.
"We hope the parties will conclude negotiations before that time so that the Joint Ministerial Council (JMC) can then sign the pact for development on the bloc to start," an official said at the weekend.
The oil companies are expected to pay the signature bonus for the bloc 30 days from the date of signing of the PSC agreement.
The signature bonus is the amount quoted by ChevronTexaco in its bid for the oil bloc. Nigerian indigenous oil firm, Conoil, had bidded for the bloc with an offer price of $120 million. Other local firms that showed interest in the bloc but lost out were the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the upstream arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Atlas Petroleum.
ChevronTexaco with 51 percent equity, was appointed the operator of Oil Bloc 01, considered to be the most prolific of the eight blocs on offer. ExxonMobil got 40 percent stake while Norway's EER was awarded nine percent equity interest.
THISDAY further gathered that the JMC, headed by Nigeria's Presidential Adviser on Energy and Petroleum, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, had cancelled bids submitted for the remaining seven blocs, and called for a re-evaluation.
Although no official reasons were given for the decision, Daukoru's aides told THISDAY yesterday that the bids, mostly from Nigeria's indigenous companies, fell short of requirements for deep offshore operation.
"The first exercise has been cancelled. The bids for most of the blocs will have to be reviewed again," a source said.
Confusion had trailed the award of the remaining oil blocs left out when the JMC met in Abuja last May. The JMC had come under intense pressure from prospective companies to approve additional block awards as soon as possible.
It was gathered that Sao Tome and Principe, eager to launch herself into the oil exporting club, sacked the two officials representing the country on the JDA for the delay in concluding the licensing round begun in April 2003.
Given available data, the Gulf of Guinea region is said to be one of the most prolific hydrocarbon provinces in the world, with reserves estimated at between six and 10 billion barrels.
The abundant hydrocarbon resources in the region may however, see the US government put in place a new defence policy aimed at protecting oil supplies from the region.
Following the political instability in the Middle East, the US, the world's leading oil consumer-nation, is increasingly relying on oil supply from the West African sub-region.
At a hearing of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Stephen Morrison, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think-tank, said the strategy must be two-pronged. The strategy, he said, must address "serious deficiencies in the internal governance of key African oil-producing states" and the "shared external security threats these states face".
Morrison said top priority should be given to sustained, high-level engagement to promote transparency and reform in the Gulf of Guinea states, with a focus on Nigeria.
"To achieve this goal," he advocated "designation of a special adviser to the president and secretary of state for African energy diplomacy, with ambassadorial rank, to lead inter-agency policy."
There were reports recently that the US planned to deploy a naval force led by an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Guinea during the coming months to conduct exercises and raise the US military profile in the region.
The Nigerian government also confirmed that it was ready to co-operate with the US to improve security in the Gulf of Guinea, which contains about 10 percent of the world's oil reserves.
Morrison criticised the US government for being "woefully ignorant" of events in northern Nigeria that "may become an attractive base for Nigerian and radical Islamists."
He added that "instability in Central Plateau state could strengthen the hand of radical Islamists in the north and might invite renewed violence in the chronically unstable Niger Delta region".
Also, David Goldwyn, founder of Goldwyn International Strategies, another Washington-based think-tank that recently collaborated with CSIS to file a report on Crafting a US Energy Policy for Africa for Secretary of State Colin Powell, testified before the Foreign Relations Committee.
According to Goldwyn, the threat of terrorism looms large over a region that currently supplies 13 percent to 14 percent of US oil imports, a figure that could rise to 20 percent.
"The naval forces of the West African states do not have the capacity to protect oil rigs and facilities" and "the area is a soft target for any terrorist group. Hardening these targets is a prudent deterrent," said Goldwyn.
"With billions of US investment, thousands of US workers on the ground, and strategic supplies of energy at stake," said Goldwyn, "the US should lead an urgent effort to help the countries of the Gulf of Guinea protect their maritime territories and enhance on-shore policing and security."
He said: "We are not ready for trouble but trouble is on the horizon."
|
