Age of Exploration

Equatorial Guinea’s ascent to becoming a major African producer was rapid. The Alba field came online in 1991, followed by the game-changing Zafiro field in 1995. The oil boom was well and truly underway, with production rising to a peak of 358,000 barrels daily in 2005.

Six fields and complexes spread across our offshore area produce oil and gas. The most recent to enter production are the Aseng and Alen gas and condensate fields, brought online in 2011 and 2013, respectively. Production of oil, condensate and natural gas products is 342,441 barrels of oil equivalent per day average.

To bolster the upstream industry and to contribute to the growing industrial base in the country, Equatorial Guinea has implemented gas utilization projects that include LNG, methanol and CNG. Block R is due to begin natural gas production in 2020 and will support a floating LNG plant. In order to utilize discovered gas reserves east of Bioko Island, a petrochemicals hub called REPEGE is being developed.

Sustained exploration success has been a hallmark of Equatorial Guinea’s upstream oil and gas business, with 48 total discoveries and a drilling success rate of 42 percent. That’s almost double the global average.

Production and processing facilities are well established in many parts of the country and seismic data covers large offshore areas. All data will be made available in our data room to interested bidders. The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons now invites oil and gas explorers to bid on a range of prospective acreages, including some unexplored blocks.

Thank you for your interest in the Equatorial Guinea Oil & Gas Licensing Round, Ronda 2016.

Legal Framework

Equatorial Guinea enacted its first Hydrocarbons Law in 1981 (Act No. 7/1981). The Constitution of 1995 (Act No. 1/1995) applied to this earlier law. Petroleum legislation was updated in 2006 with the introduction of the New Hydrocarbons Law (act no. 8/2006), which governs the sector today. In addition to the New Hydrocarbons Law of 2006, companies are subject to the Petroleum Operations Regulation of 2013 and the New Local Content Regulation of 2014, among other directives.

The 2006 Hydrocarbons Law states in Article 1 that all hydrocarbon reservoirs that exist in the surface and subsoil areas of Equatorial Guinea, including its inland waters, territorial waters, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, are the exclusive property of the state and therefore public domain goods. It also establishes a model production sharing contract.

Directly applicable to companies operating in the petroleum sector are the following laws and regulations:

• Tax Law (Act no. 4/2004, of Oct. 28, 2004)
• Petroleum Operations Regulation (Ministerial Order no. 4/2013)
• New Local Content Regulation (Ministerial Order no. 1/2014)

Equatorial Guinea’s hydrocarbons legislation states that contracts may be awarded by means of competitive international public tender or direct negotiation. Exploration periods are set at two initial sub-periods of four or five years, plus a maximum of two one-year extensions. The state is entitled to a carried interest participation of not less than 20 percent. Production sharing contracts are the standard petroleum agreement in place.

Legal summary provided by Centurion Law Group.