Seychelles Announces Applications for 2 Blocks

PetroSeychelles has announced that it has received applications for Area A and Area B and is now inviting other interested parties wishing to submit competing applications for the two areas to do so within ninety (90) days.

Area A and Area B were formerly Afren under the East African Exploration (Seychelles) Limited (EAX) and Vanoil Energy Ltd under its wholly owned subsidiary, Avana Petroleum Limited.

Areas A and B comprise 14,319 km2 in total and are located on the Seychelles micro-continent in shallow to deep water in the northern half of the Seychelles plateau in a region.

The applications follow the new blocks licensing system in operation in the Seychelles termed as “Open File” system under which companies may submit proposals for open areas on a first come first served basis. Upon receipt of a proposal PetroSeychelles and its partners in Government undertakes due diligence to verify that the company is technically and financially competent to undertake the work program proposed. This is then followed by publication of the intent to allow other interested companies to submit competing proposals, for the same area, within a 90 day period. All proposals received will then be evaluated and the selected company will be invited to negotiate a Petroleum Agreement.

Should other companies bid the winners will join the Japan Oil Gas and Metals National Corporation, JOGMEC the only party that holds an exploration license in Seychelles after the other explorer UK listed company Afren collapsed.

Other exploration companies that have been in the country include Amoco which drilled three wells: Reith Bank-1, Seagull Shoals-1 and Owen Bank A1 all of which encountered oil and gas shows  in the area as well as Enterprise Oil Plc, Vanoil Energy and WHL Energy which took over US based company Petroquest International.

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