29 October 2013, News Wires – Gabon has awarded 13 blocks to 11 companies as part of a deep-water licensing round, reports have said.
Speaking to journalists in Libreville, oil minister Etienne Ngoubou said that “the government is aiming for 500,000 barrels a day of production once these blocks are operational,” Reuters reported.
The UK’s Ophir Energy was the biggest winner in the licensing round with four blocks.
ExxonMobil, Eni, Repsol and Marathon were all also among the winners.
Shell and Total, both of whom are significant producers in Gabon, participated in the round but came away empty-handed.
Delayed several times, the round aims to reverse a decline in Gabonese output from a peak of 370,000 bpd in the 1990s.
The minister did not give an estimate for current production, although Gabon said earlier this year it was aiming for national output of 230,000 bpd in 2014.
– Upstream