Call for tenders for 110,000 km2 of unexplored off-shore territories In 2009, the Gabonese Energy Minister will launch a new call for tenders for 110,000 km2 of off-shore territories.

The oilfields of Gabon were among the first to be exploited in Africa. Even today, new sites are being discovered and the known reserves have doubled since 1996 to reach an estimated 2.6 billion barrels. Gabon is therefore optimistic about production for 2009. The government’s latest budget statement allows for oil production of 13,863 million tonnes in 2009, an "increase of 7.8% over 2008", to 273,000 barrels per day (bpd).

In 2009, the Gabonese Energy Minister will launch a new call for tenders for 110,000 km2 of unexplored off-shore territories whose pre-salt layer could contain significant reserves of hydrocarbons.

The recent advances in technology have aroused renewed interest in Gabon’s potential oil and gas reserves, and in particular for very deep water exploration which promises to give excellent results. There are currently twenty three oil companies working in the country including Total Gabon, Shell Gabon, Perenco, Addax Petroleum, Marathon, Vaalco Energy Inc and Maurel & Prom. In October, Maurel & Prom announced the discovery of two off-shore oilfields.

Accounting for 70% of the production, the United States is Gabon’s principal customer, with China, Singapore and France sharing the remainder of output. The main operators in the Gabon oil sector are the French corporation Total and the Anglo-Dutch Shell.

With such a diversity of resources, Gabon does not expect to hit a trough anytime soon.

Legabon.org, January 2009

On Friday 9th January, Addax Petroleum Corporation announced the successful appraisal and development of the Ebouri field in the Etame Marin area off the coast of Gabon.

“We are delighted with the excellent results recorded by the recently drilled Ebouri and Ebouri North wells. This campaign consolidates opinion on the excellent quality delivered by Etame Marin. We are equally encouraged by the continuation of our exploration programme in Gabon. We are planning additional drilling in the sandstone of the Gamba zone in the Etame Marin field and adjacent licence zone of Gryphon Marin”, declared Jean Claude Gandur, CEO of Addax Petroleum.

The Ebouri field was discovered in 2003. It is located at approximately 18 kilometres to the North West of the Company’s Etame production site in the Etame Marin licence zone. Two pilot wells were drilled in the principal area of the Ebouri field. The first drill hole is located to the South of the original Ebouri site, while the second lies to the North West, approximately 100 metres from the Gryphon Marin licence area.

The company holds a 68.75% interest in it. The two pilot holes succeeded in tracing the formation of Gamba sandstone above the hydrocarbon waters, extending the territorial expanse of the Ebouri field. A horizontal operational well is being drilled in the same direction as the second pilot hole. Production is scheduled to commence at the beginning of 2009.

A deviated well is currently being drilled to optimise the site and perhaps open a second horizontal development well by drilling, as planned, the two wells targeted on two new structures identified to the North and South East of Etame.

Addax Petroleum is an international oil and gas exploration and production company which concentrates its activities strategically in West Africa and the Middle East. Addax Petroleum is one of the largest independent oil producers in West Africa and has increased its crude oil production from 8,800 barrels per day in 1998 to an average of approximately 134,000 barrels per day in the course of the first three quarters of 2008.

Legabon.org, January 2009

Gabon has signed six contracts with Italian company ENI for "oil exploration and joint production", concerning blocks of an overall surface area of more than 7.300 km2.

These agreements were signed by the Gabonese President Omar Bongo Ondimba, Ministers Casimir Oyé Mba and Blaise Louembet and the director of the Exploration division of ENI Holding BV, Claudio Descalzi. These six contracts represent a surface area of 7.315,22 km2".

The permits issued concern "offshore areas in the north, in particular the north Atlantic sedimentary basin” which Gabon’s energy minister, Oyé Mba, said “has proven oil reserves”. Others are located “onshore, to the north of the interior basin in the province of the Estuary" where Libreville is situated.

The Italian state has a 37% stake in ENI (27% directly and 10% through the Caisse des Dépôts), which is the fourth largest oil company in Europe and the seventh worldwide. Turnover was 83.5 billion euros for the first nine months of 2008.

Legabon.org, January 2009

Two companies in Gabon have obtained Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, thereby underlining the country’s reputation in Central Africa for its sustainable forest management.

Rougier also obtained certification for its international commercial subsidiary Rougier Gabon, which ensures the traceability of timber from forest to consumer. It is preparing to export large volumes of products certified by the FSC to Europe after obtaining the certification for its 690,000-hectare concession.

With a top-ranking position in the domain of certified products, Rougier stays on course in its valorisation strategy. This strategy is accompanied by an intensification of commercial action in order to offer the widest possible range of certified products to the customer. Rougier is developing the production of "FSC" certified Okoumé, a species available in large quantities that can be used in a number of applications: windows, doors, mouldings, panels, veneers, boats, etc.

Precious Woods Gabon, owner of the Compagnie Equatoriale des Bois (CEB) also obtained FSC certification. The label indicates that the company exploits the whole of its concession of 600,000 hectares in a sustainable manner. The annual production of 200,000 cubic metres of timber is fully certified. With this decision, all the group’s forest exploitation subsidiaries in the world are now FSC certified.

“FSC certification is a great advantage, particularly on the European market”, their spokesman announced. "Not only do certified products command a better price, but this also guarantees us the right to operate in markets that impose strict norms regarding the origin of the products on offer.”

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Legabon.org, January 2009

As part of the monitoring of the country’s major infrastructure development projects, the Chief of State Omar Bongo Ondimba recently received a delegation from the French Building and civil engineering company Bouygues Bâtiments, in Libreville, for work meetings concerning work on the construction of the new Libreville airport.

Bouygues responded to the call for tenders the Gabonese government launched in 2006. The new Libreville airport will be located to the north of the Gabonese capital, on the site of Malibé 2. Its construction and operation will generate a large number of jobs, and will allow Gabon to align itself with the new international security standards in the field of civil aviation.

For some months, the Gabonese government and Bouygues Bâtiments have been having regular work sessions to reach a consensus prior to launching the work, which could commence in the course of 2009.

“A delegation was invited to attend technical meetings by the government and the programme coordination unit… We already submitted a tender in 2006 on this affair, which found favour with the Chief of State. Today, we have come back within the framework of a bid regarding the same project and we shall obviously fine-tune the bid we already submitted in accordance with the specifications issued by the technical team”, the company’s Africa commercial director clarified.

Legabon.org, January 2009