Petroleum Africa
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Monday, June 27, 2016
Equatorial Guinea is tired of waiting for new resources to be exploited and has told firms operating in the country that if they do not carry out exploration they will have to hand their blocks back. This was revealed during a conversation between Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Equatorial Guinea’s Minister for Mines, Industry & Energy and Upstream.
The ultimatum is part of the government’s drive to get upstream activities moving. Lima told Upstream that he was flexible enough to grant operators a one-year leeway on exploration drilling due to the oil price crash, but stressed that if wells are not drilled after these extensions expire oil companies would have the blocks revoked.
“Next year, they need to drill. We will aggressively approach all the operators because 2017 has to be a drilling year,” Lima said. “I gave them extensions and a lot of them expire in the first or second quarter of next year. There are no more excuses. You either drill or you give us the block back.”
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