Gazprom Won't Begin Libya Talks Until There Is 'Legitimate' Regime

- Gazprom Won't Begin Libya Talks Until There Is 'Legitimate' Regime

Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
MOSCOW
by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

Gazprom won't begin talks on restarting its projects in Libya until a "legitimate" regime is in place in the North African country, the company said Tuesday.

Gazprom halted work at oil concessions C96 and C97--a joint project with Wintershall, a unit of German chemical giant, producing 100,000 barrel a day when unrest broke out in the country in February. One of the projects is in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya's coast, while the second is Block 64 located in the Gadames oil province, .

"We would like to return to Libya as soon as possible," a Gazprom spokesman said.

"But until Libya has a legitimate government in place, we won't start negotiations," he said.

Wintershall said Monday that production at the C96 and C97 concessions could be restarted within several weeks, depending "on the state of the export infrastructure as well as a stable security situation in the country."

Plans by Gazprom's oil unit Gazprom Neft to acquire a 33% stake in ENI's Elephant field in Libya were also delayed due to the unrest in the country. The company said in April the deal would be finalized when the situation stabilizes in Libya, but declined to comment Tuesday.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Tanzania Defers Offshore O&G Bidding Round until 2012

Tanzania Defers Offshore O&G Bidding Round until 2012

Monday, April 11, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
by Nicholas Bariyo

Tanzania has postponed its fourth deep-offshore bidding round to 2012, said state oil company Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp.

The bidding round was to be opened April 12, and was expected to include 13 blocks sitting between 1,200 meters and 3,500 meters of water depth.

"The round has been postponed to give more time for preparations," TPDC said in a statement. "This will include proper demarcation of new blocks using additional new seismic."

TPDC didn't specify the exact date of the new round.

Currently, Tanzania has licensed 12 deepwater blocks and recent exploration works have encountered at least 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The country is yet to discover commercial oil reserves.

Sebastian Shana, TPDC's principal petroleum geologist, said at least 13 new blocks have been demarcated, including new areas and relinquished acreage.

Geologists believe that Tanzanian oil and gas exploration areas share similar geological properties with Uganda's Lake Albertine Rift basin, where around 1 billion barrels of oil reserves have been discovered.

Exploration companies already licensed in Tanzania include Shell's local subsidiary Shell International, Orca Exploration, Dominion Gas and Oil, Tullow Oil and Tower Resources.