(In the far north-west, Morocco has 22 gas and oil blocks in open acreage and is looking for investors to explore them)
CAPE TOWN, Nov 4 (Reuters) – East Africa is generating buzz as a new oil and gas frontier, but West Africa’s more developed oil region still has plenty of unexplored terrain and untapped potential, speakers said at the annual Africa Oil Week.
Speaker after speaker at the event, which was organised by Global Pacific & Partners and wrapped up on Friday, talked of largely unexplored East Africa and its hydrocarbon potential, but said there still was a scramble for West Africa’s remaining resources.
One statistic that stood out: Only 500 wells have been drilled in East Africa, while West Africa is dotted with 15,000 and North and Central Africa with 20,000.
Even so, much exploration potential was missed or ignored in West Africa in the past because of the limits of technology or the political situation in various countries.
Some of the highlights from the conference on the west coast of Africa’s remaining frontiers included:
– In the far north-west, Morocco has 22 gas and oil blocks in open acreage and is looking for investors to explore them. Morocco is relatively unexplored but is believed to have good gas potential because its geology is similar to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, an offshore gas producer. The two regions were adjacent tens of millions of years ago.
– About 70 percent of Ivory Coast’s 87,000 square km of potential hydrocarbon acreage remains unexplored and is in a petrol-rich neighborhood. By way of contrast, in the region of Uganda where oil has been found, 60 percent remains unexplored.
– The West African country of Liberia will have 13 offshore hydrocarbon blocks available for licensing in the second quarter of 2012 There are indications the country could have substantial hydrocarbon reserves.
– Angola aims to top Nigeria as Africa’s top oil producer as it cranks up from current levels of close to 2 million barrels of oil per day. Estimates of its reserves run as high as 13.5 billion barrels, but some experts say they may be much higher.
Privately owned Argentine oil company Pluspetrol expects the first output from its Angolan oilfield in the Cabinda region by late next year, the conference heard this week.
Pluspetrol is the operator of the Castanha oilfield, the first onshore discovery in Angola for almost four decades. The end of the country’s civil war and the cooling off of rebel activity in the Cabinda enclave may spark new interest in onshore exploration in Angola.
– There are still limits. Equatorial Guinea for example foresees no rise in output and expects to hold production steady for the next three years at around 240,000 bpd.
EAST AFRICA HIGHLIGHTS
– Over 10,000 square km with “high petroleum potential” has been relinquished in Uganda and will soon be available for re-licensing along with unlicensed areas in a competitive bidding process.
– Kenya plans to delineate more blocks deep offshore.
– Africa’s newest state, South Sudan, is seeking investors to help it build a refinery. (Compiled by Ed Stoddard, editing by Jane Baird)
