Smoking gun oil and gas map? You decide:
Hello, Jeff - Note the date of this article, January 2014. Just
about the time that Guinea had Ebola cases spreading but not identified.
Could oil = Ebola? The people in W Africa are certain that the W
African strain that appears to have started in early December, or even
sooner, they care convinced that Ebola was being spread on purpose.
There sometimes is some basis for rumor.. I have found a map of
oil wells, areas of oil exploration as well as off shore proposed and
operating oil, gas maps. It is a mighty big coincidence that these
maps if overlaid a map of Ebola infection match.
This strain is different and I believe it is airborne, maybe not in the
sense of Influenza but in the sense of TB. TB is spread within the
droplets that contain the bacteria. A person sneezes or coughs and
the droplets that get released into the air are infectious and thus the
bacterial disease spreads. I believe that this Ebola strain is spreading
in the manner of TB.
Check out the map and YOU decide. i have also posted a January 2014
analysis of some of the oil and gas industry proposed and working sites.
My guess is the oil industry may possibly have other ideas for Dolotown
and West Point townships in Liberia and that does not include housing
poor people...
You decide.
Patty
http://www.platts.com/news-feature/2014/oil/africa-oil-gas-energy-outlook/west-africa-oil-gas
West Africa Starts Opening Up More Deepwater Oil, Gas Plays
By Jacinta Moran in Cape Town
January 02, 2014
CAPE TOWN -- West Africa's upstream future looks better now than
ever before as the build-up of international oil company interests proceeded
rapidly through 2013 and countries look to open up their deepwater offshore.
Unrivaled opportunities in the form of mergers, bid rounds, farm-ins/outs
and deal making coupled with rising proven oil and gas reserves have made
it one of the principal target destinations for global oil companies.
The fly in the ointment, though, is the apparent increasing propensity
of some governments to alter the fiscal terms after the event, which can
act as deterrent to investment.
Prospects and potential for further oil and gas finds remain exceedingly
positive in West Africa, though, while the region's "presalt," or subsalt,
is also generating considerable interest with 2014 shaping up to be an
active year for seismic and exploratory drilling.
Analysis continues below...
Angola will auction 10 blocks in the onshore Lower Congo and onshore Kwanza
basin in 2014. They are known to have presalt prospects that are said
to be similar to the subsalt layer offshore Brazil where large discoveries
have already been made.
If prospects are as favorable as projected, and new deepwater fields such
as Total's CLOV project come on stream as scheduled, Angola should be
able to increase its oil output to eclipse that of Nigeria.
Angola also has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in sub-Saharan
Africa after Nigeria, with 11 Tcf. In a milestone development and after
many delays, Angola's first LNG venture came on stream in June 2013.
At a cost of $10 billion, Angola LNG is one of the largest single investments
in the country's hydrocarbons sector.
But while the Chevron-led project offers a solution to minimize flaring
by gathering associated gas from offshore oil fields, concerns remain
over the potential weakening of LNG prices in the coming years, and higher
liquefaction costs.
Gabon exploration
Several companies have set their sights on subsalt plays in Gabon, which
sits on the west coast of central Africa, and where Total in October reported
gas and condensate finds on the Diaba block.
Gabon's ministry of energy in October awarded 13 blocks to 11 companies
as part of a long-delayed licensing round, which the former OPEC member
country hopes will reverse a decline in output from a peak of 370,000
b/d in the 1990s.
Marathon, Cobalt, Petronas, Perenco, Noble, ExxonMobil, Eni and Ophir
were among the winners.
But the government's recent decision to delay publishing its proposed
new petroleum law from 2014 to 2015 raises the risks of regulatory uncertainty
for investors.
Industry sources say foreign oil companies are likely to face tougher
terms such as including equity stakes for the state oil company in new
production sharing contracts.
The state-owned Gabon Oil Company is expected to take a 15% equity stake
in all new projects while the law is also expected to propose that at
least 90% of all jobs in the energy sector should be held by locals including
all executive positions.
The energy sector remains crucially important to Gabon's economy-- hydrocarbons
account for between 80% and 90% of it total export earnings.
Equatorial Guinea, meanwhile, is also looking to stretch its oil sector.
The ministry of mines and energy will invite companies to bid on available
blocks in 2014 as it steps up an aggressive exploration program with four
blocks to be offered.
The tiny former Spanish colony started pumping oil in the mid-1990s, with
oil peaking at around 360,000 b/d in 2008, before dipping to 285,000 b/d
in 2013 as some fields started maturing.
Combined with gas, the country's output is around 320,000 b/d of oil equivalent.
Liberia, Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Benin
Liberia, still recovering from a civil war, is planning to offer 11 offshore
exploration blocks in a new licensing round planned for launch from mid-2014,
which will include two ultra-deep concessions for the first time.
The focus of the next round will be on the offshore Harper Basin, which
borders the West African country's eastern maritime boundary with Cote
d'Ivoire. State-owned NOCAL is still working on a draft new oil and as
policy.
Interest has also been piqued in offshore Cote d'Ivoire following discoveries
by Total and Tullow Oil. The West African nation is now opening up new
exploration acreage in the country's ultra deepwater as it hopes to hit
an ambitious 200,000 b/d by 2016 from current levels of 30,000 b/d.
Ghana, though still considered a minnow, expects oil production to more
than double to 200,000 b/d by 2020 as output increases from the Jubilee
field and other projects come on stream.
Apart from Tullow's main producing asset, the Jubilee field, the company
is working on a number of other prospects in Ghana, such as the Tweneboa,
Enyenra and Ntomme (TEN) field, all of which could underpin Ghana's oil
production levels over the medium term.
A national oil policy has been approved by cabinet and around $20 billion
is expected to be invested in the upstream over the next five years.
Benin, a tiny neighbor to the east of oil giant Nigeria, has long been
considered a small company play but that may be about to change.
Shell has started drilling block 4, in what it described as a new and
untested area in the country.
Lagos-based South Atlantic Petroleum (SAPETRO), is exploring the Seme
field in block 1 where it is targeting first oil in 2014.
Seme went on stream in 1992 but it was abandoned in 1998 by a succession
of companies including Pan Ocean and Ashland. A significant oil discovery
would help solve Benin's energy woes-- the country is largely dependent
on imported electricity, mostly from Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.
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