[2019-01-15] Oil consortium starts 3D seismic surveys in São Tomé and Príncipe

Source: Macauhub

The consortium made up of BP Exploration Operating and US-based Kosmos Energy will start a three-dimensional seismic survey in block 10 of the São Tomé and Príncipe sea at the end of March, the São Tomean National Oil Agency announced on Monday.

The date of the start of the seismic survey was announced by the agency at the end of a “public consultation meeting on the environmental impact, health and safety study,” witnessed by the Minister of Natural Resources, Osvaldo d’Abreu and the representatives of BP and of Kosmos.

“The 3D seismic exploration programme is scheduled to start at the end of March 2019 and will be carried out at a minimum distance of approximately nine kilometres north of São Tomé, with an expected duration of 95 days,” said the document on the final conclusions of the meeting.

Beginning at the end of October, the environmental impact studies carried out in the São Tomé and Príncipe Sea are the result of two oil block prospecting contracts signed by the BP Exploration Operating/Kosmos and the São Tomé and Príncipe National Oil Agency.

Valid for 28 years, with the first eight set aside for research and the remaining 20 for development and production, the contracts make BP the operator of blocks 10 and 13, with the São Tomean State having a 15% stake in each of them.

Block 10 has an average depth of 2,500 metres and an area of 6,839.6 square kilometres, while block 13 has an average depth of 3,000 metres and covers an area of 6,776.9 square kilometres.

In addition to the exclusive economic exploration zone, São Tomé and Príncipe has another joint operation with Nigeria, based on a treaty that gives 60% of revenues to the Nigerian State and 40% to the archipelago and a possible third oil sharing area with Equatorial Guinea is being analysed.