TOTAL DISGUSTS NOBLE ENERGY FROM DOING BUSINESS WITH BRAZZAVILLE

摘要

Noble Energy’s head of explorationJim Demarest is not likely to headback to Brazzaville’s ministry ofpetroleum any time soon. The Americanfirm believed it had beenawarded Marine XX, a permit offeredas part of a licensing round launchedin 2018 and had even received anofficial document from the Congolesegovernment to that effect. In theend, it was pipped to the post byTotal ( AEI 830), who will nowbecome operator of the deep offshoreblock. Noble Energy, for whichMarine XX would have been its firstasset in Congo-B, has learned thehard way that the country is a hazardousplace for newcomers.Together, Perenco, ENI and Totalcontrol nearly all hydrocarbon outputand wield considerable influencewithin the ministry of petroleum,headed by Jean-Marc ThystereTchicaya. Their sway is only greaterwithin the president’s office wherethey can easily gain access to headof state Denis Sassou Nguesso. Thecountry does however want to attractnew foreign players and haslaunched a new bidding round. NobleEnergy’s current African assets areexclusively in Equatorial Guinea andCameroon. A large portion of thefirm’s investments are in Israel,where it found the giant gas depositsof Tamar and Leviathan, an assetthat is scheduled to go into productionthis year. The company alsoholds large shale oil and shale gasfields in the United States.