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)

Contratada sonda para perfurar Bloco 2 da Zona Conjunta de São Tomé em 2008

Equator Exploration Limited announces that Sinopec, as operator on behalf of the participants in Block 2 of the Nigeria and São Tomé & Príncipe Joint Development Zone (“JDZ”), has entered into an agreement with Aban Abraham Pte Ltd (“Aban”), for the provision of the Aban Abraham deep water drillship to drill a well in the second half of 2008. The agreement, which has been entered into jointly with Addax Petroleum, has secured the Aban Abraham to drill up to ten wells in total. These wells will be shared across those blocks in which Addax and Sinopec respectively operate. The agreement contemplates five firm well slots and five optional well slots. Under a separate rig sharing agreement, Sinopec will be allocated one of the firm well slots which will fulfil the commitment well as agreed under the Block 2 Production Sharing Contract. Additionally, and as required, a share of the optional slots may be available. The day-rate for the rig is a maximum of $410,000 per day.The JDZ was created through an agreement between the governments of Nigeria and São Tomé & Príncipe in 2001 whereby revenues derived from the JDZ will be shared 60:40 between these governments respectively. Block 2 was awarded to Equator and the other participants in March 2006. Subsequent to a farm-in to the interest of another participant, A & Hatman, Equator has a 9% interest, of which 0.25% is allocated to another partner. The other participants are Sinopec, ERHC Energy and Addax Petroleum, who together have 65%, ONGC (13.5%), A & Hatman (2.5%), Amber Petroleum (5%) and Foby Engineering (5%). In its News Release of 11 January 2007, the Company reported the Best Estimate Prospective Resources for its net interest as prepared by Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. On an un-risked basis net to Equator they are 121 million barrels of oil and 168 billion standard cubic feet of gas, while on a risked basis they are 32 million barrels of oil and 50 billion standard cubic feet of gas. (Oilvoice)