Sassou extends New Age's Marine Ⅲ exploration licence

摘要

The British junior New Age is to have an extra year to conduct drilling on its Congolese exploration permit for Marine Ⅲ. In late November, a decree signed by President Denis Sassou Nguesso extended the licence for the second time for a threeyear period from 26 September 2018. The permit is held by New Age (75%) in partnership with the state-owned Société nationale des pétroles du Congo (SNPC, 25%). The oil companies will now have until September 2021 to fulfil the conditions of this renewal, namely the gathering of 3D seismic date and the drilling of an exploration well. The previous extension decreed in November 2019 was for two years only and would have expired in September of this year. Since then, the Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a fall in barrel prices and a freeze on investment. Run by the Chinese executive Yu Liang, New Age is also active in Cameroon on the Etinde block, where it has plans to develop local gas reserves (Africa Intelligence, 25/11/20), in Ethiopia (exploration at Adigala and an ongoing assessment of Ogaden) and in South Africa (exploration at Algoa/Gamtoos).