Congo firm seeks to revive oil fields

Business Daily
Date: 15.04.2014
Page 18
Article size: 173 cm2
ColumnCM: 38.44
AVE: 73044.44
Congo firm seeks to revive oil fields
Republic of Congo's state oil com
pany SNPC said it hopes to develop
a strategy to pump more oil from
SNPC also carried out a survey of
the Mayombe licence, not currently
fields underexploited by foreign
investors as part of a plan to revive
being exploited, to assess its poten
tial for drilling. Oil production in Re
public of Congo has been in decline
oil production.
for years due to maturing fields and
Societe Nationale des Petroles
du Congo (SNPC) said in a state
merit in Congolese newspaper La
Semaine Afrieairw on Friday that it
is down from around 310,000 bpd
in 2010, according to data from the
USEnergy Information Administra
tion. The country proj ects output of
242,000 barrels per day this year, up
had completed two geological sur
veys since December in the Mengo slightly from 242,000 bpd in 2013.
KundjiBindi (MKB) permit to assess Oil revenues make up more than 70
their potential.
percent of the state's budget. New
"SNPC is using hydraulic frac
discoveries have piqued investor
turing on the Kundji field allowing
improved production of compact interest and Congo plans a Ucens
reserves..which constitute the oil ing round this year for around 10
tax revenues from mining to 25 per
cent ofthe national budget by 2016,
from 145 percent at present
"Exploitation of natural resources
is key to our ambition of becoming
an emerging market country by
2030," he said.Congo produced a
record 943,000 tons of copper last
year, making it Africa's largest pro
ducer and driving economic growth
of 8.5 percent
onshore and offshore oil blocks. The
reserves on the MKB permit It will
use the same technique on the Mengo
region is thought to contain oil con
field," the announcement stated.
cealed below a layer of salt on the
The Kundji field is currently be
Matata Ponyo told a mining confer
ence in the eastern city of Goma that
the government intends to increase
ocean bed and some expect reserves
ing exploited by SNPC in collabora
comparable to the billions of barrels
tion with lvorian state oil company
found in fields off Brazil
Meanwhile, Democratic Repub
lic of Congo aims to double tax rev
Gas, SNPC said. It was previously
abandoned by now dissolved French enues from minerals but investors
warned that an overhaul ofthe min
oil company Elf .The Mengo field was
similarly abandoned by Elf in the ing code could remove incentives to
Petroci and Canada's Orion Oil and
1990s.
invest theraPrime Minister Augustin
Ipsos Kenya Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road Lavington Nairobi Kenya

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