Oando, one of Nigeria’s top gasoline retailers which is listed on the Lagos and Johannesburg (OAOJ.J) stock exchanges, said it had bought 75 percent of Toronto-based Exile Resources’ (ERI.V) 40 percent working interest in the field.

Oando, which sells or distributes one in every five litres of petroleum products in Nigeria, has been expanding aggressively with upstream investments.

It did not give a value for the acquisition.

It said the agreement, which included Oando reimbursing Exile’s past expenses on the field, meant it would end up with a 30 percent equity stake in the entire project.

“We are excited about this acquisition as it is in line with our plans to boost our portfolio with near-term oil and gas assets,” said Tunde Ogunnaike, chief executive of Oando’s upstream arm Oando Production and Exploration Limited (OEPL).

“As the technical and management partners, we will be conducting immediately additional technical studies to facilitate the drilling of more wells to fast-track the development of this block,” he said.

The Akepo field is in Oil Mining License (OML) 90, in shallow water off Nigeria’s south-eastern shore.

The field was originally a joint venture between state oil firm NNPC and U.S. giant Chevron (CVX.N) but was awarded to the current operator, Nigeria’s Sogenal, in 2003.

Oando, which sells or distributes one in every five litres of petroleum products in Nigeria, has been expanding aggressively with upstream investments.

It acquired Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDSa.L) 49.8 percent stake in two offshore blocks — OML 125 and 134 — in February last year, making it the first Nigerian firm to secure oil production assets from a multinational operating in the West African state.

The company, which has strategic investments in a range of energy companies across West Africa, has said it wants to grow its upstream portfolio in Nigeria, home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry.

“In the current uncertain financial climate, Oando’s financial strength and capability and experience in the Nigerian sector will enable the project to move forward to first oil production in the earliest timeframe,” Exile Resources Chief Executive Tony Henshaw said. - - (Reuters)

Exxon Mobil is currently the world’s largest in the league of the international oil companies (IOCs); and counts engagement in the whole chain of the oil business – from exploration, refining to distribution, among others.

The exploration program was recently submitted by the two firms to the Department of Energy. This serves as a follow-through to the commitment made by Exxon Mobil exploration vice president for Asia Pacific Stephen Greenlee during his courtesy call to President Arroyo last year.

The American oil giant farmed in to the equity divested by Mitra Energy in 2006, paving its way to become the project operator. This particular deal was approved by the DoE last year.

The Sandakan basin prospect is under Service Contract (SC) 56 and the acreage covers 8,620 hectares offshore Sulu sea.

Before proving the viability of an oil and gas prospect for commercial development, project operators tend to drill several wells.

The first well for the Sandakan prospect is scheduled for drilling by the fourth quarter of this year.

In Greenlee’s statement, the drilling program for the targeted site would cost between million to 0 million.

It was learned that Exxon Mobil would want to see commercially-extractable reserves of 100 million barrels from the prospect before moving ahead with the field’s commercial development.

The Philippines is the US oil giant’s next target after its foray into other Asia-Pacific jurisdictions, including Indonesia, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia.

Greenlee previously noted their decision to invest was stimulated by the potential of the prospect, based on the seismic data that was passed on to them by Mitra Energy.

Mitra Energy, for its part, has been constantly searching for oil and gas developments in the Philippines. It even staked a chance in the development of the proposed oil rim beneath the Malampaya field, but government policies thwarted its fate in that particular investment prospect.

For more information about this news release please visiting at http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20090106144951.html

The steel major has proposed to set up a six-million-tonne steel plant in Orissa and a 12-million -tonne steel plant in Jharkhand.

Both the projects are marred by land acquisition, displacement and iron ore allotment issues and the company sees a major role of the state administrative machineries for their resolution.

“We are keen to start work on the Orissa steel project as quick as possible, but everything depends on the support of the state government,” B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel, told Business Standard.

He was, however, more blunt regarding the cause of delay in Jharkhand, saying, “The Jharkhand project is still in our mind, but it has got delayed because of the state government there”.

Tata Steel had signed an MoU for its Orissa project in November 2004. But it is unable to start work at its proposed site in Kalinga Nagar due to local resistance.

Though the company is gradually recovering from the backlash of Kalinga Nagar police firing, which claimed the lives of 14 tribal participants in a protest against the Tata project on January 2, 2006, it is yet to get clear possession of the allotted land at the site due to continued stay of displaced persons.

Out of 1,200 families required to be shifted from the proposed site, about 700 families have been shifted so far. In fact, the pace of shifting to the rehabilitation colony built by the company has considerably slowed down over the past six months.

Asked when the rest of the families will be shifted, Muthuraman replied, “We are on the job, but the government has to play a proactive role.”

He hoped all issues relating to land acquisition and iron ore allotment for the Kalinga Nagar project will be resolved within three months. “The Orissa project has already been delayed by three years and we will ensure that there is no further delay.”

Muthuraman, however, was happy with the progress of the company’s proposed 5-million-tonne steel plant in Chhattisgarh, saying, “There has been some progress in land acquisition and allotment of prospecting license for the project.”

Despite problems with the company’s 12-million-tonne greenfield project in Jharkhand, the 3-million-tonne capacity expansion of Tata Steel’s existing plant at Jamshedpur is going on smoothly. “We have advanced the date of expansion work and it is now scheduled for completion by December 2010,” he said.

On setting up of a SEZ at Gopalpur in Orissa, he said, “Tata Steel has entered into a joint venture with Tata Realty for the project. But there are some land issues which need to be sorted out,” he added. - - (Business Standard)

The iron ore concentrate will come from Northern Iron’s Sydvaranger iron project in Norway and will be supplied to Corus.

Pricing for the concentrate will be based on Brazilian iron ore company Vale’s benchmark for similar products delivered into Europe.

Tata Steel has been scouting for raw material resources that will feed its international operations including Corus. It has taken stakes in African and Austrlian raw material projects as part of its plans to meet Corus’ demands.

Tata Steel’s India operations are self-equipped to meet its iron ore and coal requirements.

Shares of Tata Steel were up 2.2% at Rs 234.65 in intra day trade on the BSE.
- - (economictimes.indiatimes)

Workers on Monday began returning to each of Rio’s 11 mines as well as its rail network spanning hundreds of kilometres across the Pilbara region, after a two-week closure to cut production by about 10 percent due to lower demand from steel mills in China, a spokesman said.

The shutdown from December 22 meant iron ore production from the Pilbara mines would be between 170 and 175 million tonnes in 2008, compared with about 190 million tonnes planned before the cuts were announced in early November.

Shipments of iron ore to Asian customers continued from stockpiles at port loading facilities throughout the mine and rail shutdown, the spokesman said.

He declined to forecast output from the western Australian mines for 2009 though Rio Tinto Chief Executive Tom Albanese said on November 10 that the slowdown in demand for iron ore from China, that hit in the fourth quarter of 2008, was expected to be short and sharp.

Another Pilbara miner, BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX)(BLT.L), vowed last month to maintain production, saying sales for now were holding up during the global downturn. - - (Reuters)

The corporation’s deputy managing director Sumayya Athmani said they are partnering with Swiss Oil Holdings International to explore block L4 and L13 for oil and gas (hydrocarbons).

NOCK, a state corporation under the Ministry of Energy, is mandated to supervise exploration firms besides disseminating exploration data to oil companies to attract them to invest in Kenya. Energy permanent secretary Patrick Nyoike said according to the available data, the potential of oil discovery is high.

Ms Athmani said NOCK plans to study data from exploration work carried out in the past to come up with a comprehensive work plan besides undertaking to community awareness meetings among the area residents.

Another firm, Gippsland Offshore Petroleum Ltd of Australia, has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Energy to drill two oil wells in Block L6 on Kenya’s coast.

Gippsland’s managing director Cathy Norman said the firm will, under the new production sharing contract (PSC), drill the wells within four years onshore and offshore Block L6 in the Lamu basin.

“The amended PSC incorporating gas development terms and other changes have been agreed on, and Block L6 joint venture partners are planning for the next phase of exploration,” she said.

Seven prospects for hydrocarbon deposits have been mapped by Gippsland and Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL. Gippsland has 60 per cent equity in Block L6 in Lamu basin while Pancontinental holds the rest.

Ms Norman said the seven prospects have potential of about 3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, and more seismic data is to be acquired onshore near Kudu area before drilling can start.

There are good indications of hydrocarbons as gas flowed from two wells drilled in Block L6 in addition to offshore mapping showing presence of natural oil seeps.

The prospects in the north within Block L6 in Lamu basin are primarily gas and presence of oil is more likely in the southern prospects. - - (nation.co.ke or Sunday Nation)

OVL is the only Indian company among 35 global companies to be qualified by the Iraqi government for bidding in its auctions, as Business-standard has reported on January 3, 2009.

Iraq opened the second round of bidding on December 31, 2008, under which it is offering 11 oil and gas exploration blocks to global oil companies. It had put on auction eight oil and gas fields in the middle of last year. Oil prices have tumbled over 70 per cent since Iraq had announced the first round of auctions.

“The Iraq government started selling the data related to all these fields in December. We have bought the data and will soon decide which blocks we bid for,” said an OVL official.

The oil and gas fields are distributed around Iraq. They include blocks that lie along Iraq’s border with Iran and Kuwait.

Iraq Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani announced the second round of auctions in a press conference in Baghdad on December 31, 2008.

The same 35 foreign companies — including global majors like ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, Chevron Corporation and Chinese company Sinopec — that qualified to participate in the first round are involved in this one, The New York Times quoted Iraq’s deputy oil minister, Ahmed al-Shammar, as saying.

Iraq hopes to sign the contracts for the latest round of auctions by the end of 2009. The results for the first round are due to be announced in May 2009.

“We have time till May this year to put in our bids,” the OVL official said.

State-owned OVL has the mandate to buy oil and gas assets overseas as part of the Indian government’s plans to attain energy security.

The company currently has 39 oil and gas properties in 17 countries. It had just one property — in Vietnam — seven years ago.

Earlier this week, OVL also announced that it would buy UK-based Imperial Energy for $1.9 billion after 96.8 per cent of the UK company’s shareholders tendered their shares to the Indian company. This is OVL’s largest acquisition so far.

Iraq has roughly 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, making its the third-largest in the world. However, a large part of this is now being produced after former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein cancelled all oil contracts around a decade ago.

The West Asian country is now looking to restart its oil fields and generate more revenues in order to rebuild its war-ravaged infrastructure.

Associated Press quoted al-Shahristani as saying that only 15 of the 78 known oil and gas fields have been brought into production, and many desert areas in the western and southern Iraq have yet to be explored.

Iraq is offering the oil fields on long-term contracts. The companies would be paid a flat fee for their services instead of production-sharing contracts, through which the companies and the government share the oil and its profits.

Theaustralian.news.com.au reported on January 03, 2009; After a company owned by one of Australia’s wealthiest individuals failed to proceed with the tie-up, JUNIOR oil and gas explorer MEO Australia is hunting to search for a partner for its Timor Sea projects.

MEO said it planned to begin a process to attract a joint venture partner during the second quarter of this year.

Clive Palmer’s Resource Development International was to farm into MEO’s NT/P68 exploration permit containing the Blackwood and Heron gas discoveries, the Tassie Shoal methanol project and Timor Sea liquefied natural gas project under options granted in July last year.

But the options were conditional upon Resource Development achieving a listing in Australia and Hong Kong by the end of 2008. It deferred its listing in light of the global financial crisis.

The company, MEO’s partner in the WA-361-P exploration permit in the North West Shelf, said a month ago that it would not exercise its options to farm in on MEO’s adjacent WA-359-P and WA-360-P exploration permits.

In this connection, the public sector undertaking or PSU has submitted a proposal to set up this integrated steel plant with an initial capacity of 2 million tonnes, expandable to 10 million tonnes. The PSU has requisitioned 4,000 acres for its proposed steel plant and has sought approval for water supply and mineral linkages.

NMDC Chairman and Managing Director, Rana Som, reportedly said the company is eyeing to acquire new reserves and this is possible in Karnataka only by adding value to the mineral. The company preferred Karnataka, in view of the government’s policy that lay stress on the value-addition of minerals in the state. - - (RTTNews)

The request was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 2nd forum of the NNOM Laureates held in Abuja.

The forum which was chaired Professor Sylvester Adegoke recommended that Nigerians should be empowered to explore oil and gas in order to encourage the indigenisation of oil and gas exploration.

The forum noted with dismay that after 50 years of oil and gas exploration, Nigeria do not have functional refineries to meet the need of its citizens.

The forum said value should be added in the oil and gas sector and that there was need to invest in capacity building, economic planning and overall performance of all segments of the oil and gas economy.

The laureates said “attributes such as honesty, punctuality, excellence, patriotism and love for the country should be systematically inculcated in all Nigerians starting from the nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions including the military, civil service and foreign missions as means of achieving attitudinal change, propagating and inculcating a Nigerian psyche or Nigerian ideology.

The forum also recommended a change from iron-making technology at the Ajakuta Steel Plant to that of a direct reduction process technology such as the Midrex Process that is obtainable at the Delta Steel Plant.

The laureates also urge government to revamp primary health care and ensure disease prevention and routine immunization be revamped and reduce child and maternal mortality in Nigeria.

In his speech at the occasion, President Umaru Musa Yar’adua who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Alhaji Mahmud Yayale Ahmed said government would consider all the recommendations by the laureates. - - (allAfrica)