Petroleum Africa
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Friday, August 2, 2013
In a statement to the WTO, the government of Gabon said that it plans to hold a licensing round for offshore oil blocks before the end of the year. The government also said that in line with that it will bring in new transparency requirements for its natural resources sector.
In a confidential document circulated during a two-day trade policy review Gabon said it was adopting a new hydrocarbon code which would provide a basis for the new bid round, “This code will provide a real framework for activities related to petroleum in our sedimentary basin, as well as the valuation of undeveloped blocks, notably in the deep and very deep offshore which are to be awarded by way of tender before the end of 2013,” the document said. The WTO document also said that the newly-created Gabon Oil Co. would be entitled to a stake of up to 15% in oil blocks owned by other companies.
Trade Minister Fidele Mengue Me Engouang, who led Gabon’s delegation to the WTO, declined to comment further on the new code and its plans to put offshore blocks out to tender.
To attract more investment the government needs to bring its EITI standing up to speed, as earlier this year the country was removed from the EITI candidate list. “It’s not so surprising that for a country experimenting with something that there can be some mistakes. We have drawn lessons from these mistakes to try to rejoin the EITI by doing better than we have before,” Mengue Me Engouang told reporters in Geneva.
Gabon said that its launched a new agency which would publish company and government data on the production volumes and tax contributions of mining and oil firms, as well as government data on permits granted to companies and reserves estimates. It said the government was trying to have the new body in place by year end.
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