…Show Me Africa

The interest of players and analysts in the oil and gas industry is growing at an astronomical rate with many eyes on Africa, as the industry waits for a new major discovery in the region. With a proven and growing reserves of oil and gas, Africa has become the center of attraction and the continent of hope for the oil and gas business. The search for a new major discovery of economic interest has intensified in various Africancountries with proven geological prospects.

The July 2007 discovery of oil in the Jubilee well of Ghana in commercial quantity which is now positioning the former Gold Coast nation as a soon- to become major player in the region seemed to be the catalyst that sparked the many drilling activities now underwayin Africa.

Out of the stream of nations in Africa on queue and living in hope of striking the rock to capture big findings that would change their economies, we are focusing on four key nations which we can say with a degree of certainty based on the amount of works being put there and available geological data that the world’s energy market will, within five years welcome these emerging producers from the continent of Africa.

NIGER

Niger is a French - West African speaking nation bordered by Chad on the east, Mali on the west, Algeria and Libya on the north, Nigeria on the south, Benin and Burkina Faso on the southwest. Niger gained her independence from France on August 3, 1960. As at July of 2008, the estimated population of the country was 13,272,679. Niamey is the capital city of the Republic of Niger. It runs a parliamentary democracy with Tandja Mamadou as the president of the country and Seyni Oumarou as the nation’s prime minister.

Niger is more of an agricultural nation and has a GDP per capital of about $365. The major agricultural products of the country are rice, sugar cane, cotton, coffee and livestock rearing. The nation of Niger has abundant reserves of uranium which has experienced increase in global demand for the generation of nuclear energy. Activities in the mineral sector accounts for about 3 percent of the nation’s GDP. There is a foreign investment in the amount of $1.4 billion in the uranium mining sector which spans from 2008 to 2012. The high uranium deposit in Niger has become a big attraction for many interested parties.

The Paris- based Areva is the most prominent company involved in the mining of Niger’s uranium. Other top players in the mining industry of this poor African nation are Bayswater Uranium Corporation, China National Uranium Corporation and North Atlantic Resources Limited.

Currently oil has not been discovered in Niger in any commercial quantity that would bring it into the map of oil producing nations. The nation has solely depended on importation of petroleum products which is handled by Societe Nigerienne des Produits Petroliers (SONIDEP) to meet up its local requirement. SONIDEP is an arm of the nation’s ministry of mining and energy, established on January 20, 1977, to buy and commercialize refined oil products and gas in the country. It is also in charge of the responsibility of managing the stocks of petroleum resources in the country.

Amadou Dioffo

Director General

SONIDEP

Niger has been known for many years to have oil reserves embedded in her soil, though the proven reserves have not been technically or fully ascertained. There are two outstanding government concessions in Niger, which are divided into two blocks: the northern section has the “Teniere Block” which covers an area of 17.3 million acres of the northern end of the basin, and the southern part which is within the town of N’guigmi is allocated as the “Agadem Block”.

Many attempts have been made by various companies to exploit oil in the various blocks.

TG World Energy abandoned the Saha – 1 well which it drilled in 2006, after the well did

not produce much desired economic quantity . Test drilling works are still in much

progress at Fachi and the Tenere block towards south of Lake Chad. The Agadem Block

in eastern Niger which was initially an ExxonMobil-Petronas joint venture, but was

abandoned by the duo in 2006. The Agadem Block which was relinquished by the

ExxonMobil-Petronas joint venture was leased to China National Petroleum Corporation

(CNPC), the Chinese company and they have made six announced oil discoveries and

one gas discovery in that block. With a discovery amounting to 400million barrels, the

Chinese company in 2008 planned to built a refinery and pipeline projects at Ganaram

near the Zinder town . It’s estimated that the refinery which is expected to be completed

in 2012 will produce up to 20,000 barrels a day of refined petroleum products and the

national consumption oil in Niger in 2007 was 7,000 barrels a day. CNPC has also

continued with drill operations in both the Agadem and Teniere Blocks

The presence of companies such as Hunt Oil, Tullow, Phioenix Energy, Algeria’s

Sonatrach, Trans-African Energy, Burren Energy, Ivanhoe Energy, Energetic Petroleum,

ATI Petroeleum, New African Global Energy, are very noticeable in the emerging oil

industry of Nigeria. Indications are high as these companies and many others are waiting

for the “New Licensing” round in the nation which the government has kept on hold for

two years to enable the government revise her petroleum law.

MALI

Mali, is another French speaking West African nation with high prospects for economic

discovery of oil and gas. The Republic of Mali is bordered by Niger on the east, Senegal

and Mauritania on the west, Algeria on the north, Burkina Faso and the Cote d’Ivoire on

the south and Guinea on the south west. It has a population of about 12,000,000 and is the

seventh largest African nation. Mali was formerly part of the French Sudan colony which

was ruled by France and it gained independence in 1959 with Senegal, as the Mali

Federation. In 1960, the Mali Federation became an independent nation of Mali and

Senegal went its own way as a sovereign nation. Bamako is the capital city of Mali and

the nation has a GDP per capital of $656. Amadou Toumani Toure is the current

president of Mali, while Momodu Sidibe is the prime minister.

Mali’s economy is agriculture based. It has large deposits of gold and bauxite. The search

for oil has garnered increased momentum since 2005. The government of the Republic of

Mali in 2004 established a structure for the promotion of oil search and compliance in the

nation called, “Authority for the Promotion of Oil Research in Mali (AUREP)”. AUREP

is an arm of the nation’s ministry of mines and energy and is directed by Mamodou

Simpara.

Mamodou Simpara

Director General of AUREP

The geology and geophysics data collected from various field works since 2005 show

great potential in the five sedimentary basins: Taoudeni, Tamesna, Illumenden, Ditch

Nara and Gao.

Australian firms such as Baraka Petroleum, Adelphi Energy , ARC Energy, Advanced

Well Technologies and Beach Petroleum have already made Mali their home. The

government of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, through the nation’s PDSVA is going beyond

a stated interest in Mali’s bauxite and gold reserves to propose investment and

technological co-operation in the West African nations oil and gas exploration.

Sao Tome

The Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe are islands in the Gulf of Guinea.

The country is situated in the equatorial Atlantic, bordered by Gabon at the northwest

coast, and also the Bioko Island of Equatorial guinea at the north and Cameroon on the

west coast It is a small nation with a population of about 300,000 people. This West

African nation gained independence from Portugal on July 12,

1975. Sao Tome is the capital city of this predominantly

agricultural nation. The nation of STP is known for fishing, and

other agricultural products such as cocoa, sugar, coconuts copra,

palm kernels, bananas, coffee, and pepper. Crude oil, though not

yet exploited commercially is one of the natural resources of

this nation.

Sao Tome and Principe have a per capita GDP of $922.

Fradique De Menezes is the nation’s president, while Joaschim

Rafael Branco is the prime minister. Carlos Alberto Branganca

Gomes, the former Executive Secretary of the Gulf of Guinea

Commission and one time CEO of the Nigeria – STP Joint Venture,

is the adviser to the president of Sao Tome & Principe on Economic

Matters.

STP has significant potential of oil deposits which were identified

off the northern shore, close to were Nigeria a neighboring country

has a successful oil operation in the Gulf of Guinea. Sao Tome & Principe have a 60 -

40% joint venture agreement with Nigeria in the development of the fields. The huge

prospects of oil in the smallest African nations has also drawn multi-nationals such as

ExxonMobil and Chevron to these volcanic islands. Large and small cap independents

like Addax, Anadarko, ERHC Energy, Afren, and Amni International Petroleum to

mention but a few have already hoisted their flags and tents for operation.

SENEGAL

Senegal the former capital of French West Africa is a country that has always strived to

maintain relationship and integration with other neighboring countries. Senegal is

bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mali to the east, Mauritania to the north, and

Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south. Gambia is more of situated inside Senegal

through the 320 kilometers stretch of the Gambian River.

Dakar is the capital city of the nation of 12,521,851 people. The GDP per capita is

$1,936. Natural resources include fish, peanuts, phosphate, iron ore, gold, titanium, oil

and gas.

Senegal became independent on April 4, 1960 as a result of the agreement for

independence and transfer of power signed with France. Prior to gaining her

independence on a separate platform, Senegal and the French Sudan had merged in

January 1959, to form the Mali Federation which became independent on June20, 1960

Due to intense political frictions; the Mali Federation broke and was dissolved. Senegal

and Sudan proclaimed independence, with Leopold Senghor a renowned poet from

Senegal as the first elected president in September 1960. On February 1, 1982, Senegal

went into another regional marriage by merging with Gambia to form the confederation

of Sene-Gambia. Another stiff political rift led to the breakup of the confederation.

Currently, Abdoulaye Wade is the president of the Republic of Senegal. Wade has been

president since winning the 2000 election when he defeated Abdou Diouf who ruled the

country from 1981-2000 after receiving power from Leopold Senghor who retired from

active politics in 1981.

Djibril Kanoute

General Manager of Petrosen

PETROSEN, the Senegalese National Oil Company was established in 1981 to foster and

implement the objectives of the State’s Petroleum Policy. The mission of Petrosen

entails the promotion of the Senegalese sedimentary basin; enhancing exploration

activities, ensuring the production of oil and gas in the region and participation in

downstream activities including trade, supply, storage, refining and distribution products.

Djibril Kanoute, the General Manager of Petrosen leads the management rudder of the

company.

The traces of bitumen which were observed in limestone near Dakar in 1917 gave hope

for the presence of hydrocarbon activity in Senegal. However, petroleum exploration in

Senegal did not really start until 1952 when a program of surface geology, geophysics

and stratigraphic well reconnaissance was conducted by the Bureau de Recherche

Petroliere (BRP) and resulted in oil and gas shows in well D – 4. Since then exploration

has intensified with the drilling of 101 wells between 1952 and 1972.

Since its foundation in 1981, PETROSEN has been trying to maintain and improve the

level of exploration. Starting 1981, 20 wells have been drilled and about 27000Km of 2D

seismic and 2820Km of 3D has been required.

Since 1997 Petrosen has engaged in the exploration of new petroleum plays, with support

of its promotional tools including the Petroleum Databank, the Geo Science Center with

workstations like Geovecteur Plus for 2D seismic processing, IntegraPlus and Stratimagic

modern tools for geological and geophysical interpretation. The new plays include: The

Senonian Sandtones in Tamna east and Gadiaga in the Thies Permit, the Neocomia

Carbonate in the Mont Rolland zone, e Paleozoic basin which extends from North to

South along a 100km wide belt East of the 16 degree Meridian, and he Deep Offshore

with first exploration works carried by Western Geophysical in 1997 and 1998, and

Vanco energy since 1999 in the Dakar Offshore profound permit and where the prospects

of Saint Louis in the North and Palmasian in the south near the Gambian border have

been evidentialized.

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