By the time you're reading this I'll be in bed!GLOTC: Angola...

By the time you're reading this I'll be in bed!

GL

OTC: Angola prequalifies 40 companies for licensing round

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

HOUSTON, May 7 -- Angola has prequalified 40 oil companies under its latest
licensing round, which lists 10 blocks as available, Syanga Abilio,
vice-president of Sonangol, told OGJ in an exclusive interview May 6 at the
Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.

The successful candidates include majors Royal Dutch Shell PLC and
ExxonMobil Corp., independent oil companies, and private Angolan firms. As
so many Angolan companies have applied for licensing permits, the government
needs more time to evaluate them, Abilio said. So the country has postponed
the Mar. 13 deadline by which companies had to submit proposals for blocks.
"A new deadline has not yet been given, but we plan to announce that
shortly," Abilio said.

About 200 companies participated in the licensing round, which offers both
deepwater and ultradeepwater blocks. "We don't know what kind of interest
the prequalified companies had in the blocks as they had not yet given us a
plan for the ones that they wanted," Abilio said.

The government invited companies to bid for onshore blocks Cabinda Centro in
the Cabinda Centra basin and KON11 and KON12 in the Kwanza basin. In shallow
water, Block 9 was offered. Three blocks, 19, 20, and 21, were in deep water
and Blocks 46, 47, and 48 were in ultradeep water.

Angola's recent admission into the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries should not dissuade potential investors from coming to the
country, Abilio said. "We joined the institution that works to protect price
and it was important to be part of that; we were an observer at OPEC for a
long time. We have a quota of 1.9 million b/d but that does not bind us on
further exploration and production. We had our oil infrastructure destroyed
during our civil war and there is nothing to fear with future investment."

Sonangol aims to become a fully integrated company across the petroleum
value chain by 2010. It has bought a 20% stake in Societe Ivoirienne de
Raffinage's 64,000 b/d refinery at Vridi, Abidjan, in Ivory Coast. Abilio
declined to give the value of the investment.

"We are also building a new refinery in Lobito, Angola, which will cost
about $7 billion," he said, adding, "It will have a 200,000 b/d capacity and
we may seek technical partners in the future. For now, we are doing the
project by ourselves."

Sonangol had originally planned to develop the refinery with China's Sinopec
but talks broke down last year following disagreement on what products the
refinery would make. It will process heavy acidic oil (such as Kuito and
Dalia) and have a high conversion with crude, vacuum, fluid cracking, and
delayed coking units. Construction of the refinery will start by yearend and
operations in 2010.

http://www.ogj.com/display_article/328026/7/ONART/none/ExplD/1/OTC:-Angola-prequalifies-40-companies-for-licensing-round/

G'night!