Upstream: Amerada Hess gets nod overFusion stake


(24.01.2003)


 Amerada Hess gets nod overFusion stake

The governments of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Cameroon have given Amerada
Hess the final go-ahead to take stakes in acreage held by Fusion Oil & Gas
in their respective offshore areas, writes Iain Esau.
However, the Banjul authorities have yet to grant approval for Hess's plan
to farm-in to a Fusion permit off the Gambia.

Fusion said Amerada Hess now operates the Croix du Sud licence in the
Agence de Gestion et Co-operation (AGC) zone between Senegal and Guinea-
Bissau with an 80% stake.

A 1500 square kilometre 3D seismic survey was completed on 28 December,
with delivery of processed data expected in the second quarter.

Amerada Hess also has an 80% stake in the Ntem block off Cameroon where
another 1500 square kilometres 3D shoot kicked off on 7 January. The survey
should be completed next month, with data delivery pencilled in for June.

In Gambia, a Fusion spokesman said: "Recent changes in those responsible
for the administration of oil and gas affairs have resulted in the
government re-assessing the status of the petroleum production licence.

"As a consequence, the contractual position and continuing commercial
merits of this licence are being reviewed."

Meanwhile, off Mauritania, where Fusion is a partner in production sharing
contracts B (which contains the Chinguetti field) and A (holding most of
the recent Banda discovery) up to five wells will be drilled this year.

These include two firm exploration wells, one contingent exploration well
and two contingent appraisal wells on Banda.

Fusion also reported that processing of 2500 square kilometres of 3D data
shot in the AGC area's Cheval Marin permit will end next month, while 2D
surveys were recently completed on the Iris and Themis Marin blocks off
Gabon.

Elsewhere, technical studies are under way on data from the disputed
offshore zone of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known
as Western Sahara.

Fusion has a technical co-operation agreement covering the territory's
entire offshore play and, next month, will present preliminary results of
its study to representatives of the SADR.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~