Assinado contrato de navio-sonda para perfuração em São Tomé e Príncipe (JDZ)

The Nigeria Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority (JDA), Addax petroleum and Sinopec of China have signed an agreement on the "Aban Abraham'' deep water drill ship. The agreement was aimed at drilling 10 wells on blocks two, three and four in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) between Nigeria and Sao Tome and Principe in the Gulf of Guinea.
Jeff Schrull, General Manager, Addax petroleum signed on behalf of his company while Messrs Lian Mingxiang and Ado Wanka endorsed the agreement on behalf of Sinopec and JDA respectively. The agreement was signed in Sao Tome and the drilling which is expected to start in August next year will end in December same year at the rate of $ 410,000 per day. “I am delighted that we have secured drilling capability of our project on competitive terms from Aban Abraham,” Schrull was saying.
Pact -- 2 According to him, Addax and its co-ventures were fortunate to find Aban Abraham drillers, given the rising cost of drilling. “The contract will enable us to complete an extensive exploration and appraisal programme which has the potential to realise considerable value for Addax, its shareholders and other stakeholders in terms of crude exploitation,” Schrull said. He said that his company and their partners were committed to minimum work programme before the discovery of the first oil. Speaking at the occasion, JDA Chairman Ado Wanka, said the initiative would go a long way to facilitate the exploration and exploitation of crude in the JDZ. He described the event as a “huge success” which signified that stakeholders were eager to get the first oil on record time.
Pact -- 3 Commenting, Sinopec’s representative, Lian Mingxiang said the company was opportune to be part of the venture. "We will do everything humanly possible to ensure the success of the project while bringing our varied expertise to bear on the projects'', Mingxiang said. Addax petroleum is the operator of block four, Sinopec operates blocks two and three and JDA is the concessionaire.
Aban Abraham is a deep water drill ship built in 1976 as a world class second generation drill ship which is currently being upgraded from second generation to fourth generation capability. JDA was established in 2001 to manage hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon resources on 60:40 in favour of Nigeria in the JDZ and had since 2003 been awarded six oil blocks out of the nine blocks identified. (UPI)