License Issues

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Duban warns licence holders

Source:

The National, Thursday November 12th, 2015

 PETROLEUM and Energy Minister Nixon Duban has cancelled some petroleum licences because of the lack of work by their holders.
He warned those holding licences to carry out the planned work to avoid cancellation.
Duban made the comment on Tuesday following the announcement by Twinza Oil Ltd to develop the Pasca oil field, 95 kilometers off Gulf.
“We must not warehouse those licences for too long,” Duban said. 
“If Twinza is working on developing Pasca when oil prices are low, there is no excuse for those bigger ones.
“This country has seen a lot of people who are convenient riders of warehouse licenses and are yet to develop. 
“I made this call in Sydney when we had the mining and petroleum conference.
“Licenses are not to be warehoused, they must be developed. 
“All our people who have knowledge of licences within their areas are also asking when are we going to see some development in our licenses. 
“I have taken a very strong stand and have already cancelled a few and will not stop. 
“I will continue to cancel for those who have not done anything with those licences. 
“This is oil and gas license and it ought to be developed.”
Meanwhile, he said a feature of the project Twinza was to allow for domestic market obligation the project. 
“Stanley Gas is a project that is yet to get off the ground,” he said.  
“They are looking at 15 per cent. 
“This (Twinza project) is going to be much higher than the 15 per cent, which is very encouraging.”

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More Duban

Minister: Changes to oil, gas act vital
Source:
The National, Thursday November 12th, 2015
NECESSARY changes to the current Oil and Gas Act may have to be done to cater for the country’s offshore oil drilling projects to benefit the people, according to Petroleum and Energy Minister Nixon Duban.
He announced the development of the country’s first offshore oil drilling project in Gulf, yesterday.
“We should have the clause or provisions to cater for that,” Duban said.
“I don’t think the (current) Oil and Gas Act (1998) covers extensively in that regard.
“We will have to raise that matter again with the department.
“We have made a commitment to the Gulf provincial government that we will work closely with them to address those issues.
“If there is need to have some amendments done to the Oil and Gas Act (1998), I am prepared to talk with the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, to ensure that the project must have maximum benefit.
“This is one province that must be given special attention as it houses the pipeline that runs through.
“Now we’ve got Total interested in Gulf, with Twinza coming on board.
“The onus is really on the Government to ensure that the legislations and even the project agreement must be tailored in a way that people must benefit from their resources.
“I have appealed to the people in Gulf to commercially align their mindset at the time when this particular project will require.
“We don’t want too much politics. We want more commitment from the province.”

[Stavros]

This offshore oil development project that Minister Duban refers to is for Twinza's Pasca field.
It has a current Contingency Reserve Estimate of something like 0.35 tcf.

Mr. Duban says the Oil and Gas Act of 1998 may have to be amended to cover such offshore developments.

It seems that Governor Kavo still wants all gas found in Gulf Province (onshore and offshore) to be fully processed in the Province.
Mr. Duban, I think, is saying that the Province must first ensure that all local infrastructure required by the project developers is first put in place by the Gulf to enable that processing.