Gabon has extended bid submission deadline for participation in the new 11th licensing round which will focus on five blocks covering the country’s deep water acreage in the South Gabon Salt Basin.
The round was formally opened on October 27, 2015 by Minister for Petroleum, Etienne Dieudonné Ngoubou at the 22nd Africa Oil Week conference in Cape Town, South Africa, with previous bidding deadline set for March 31, 2016.
French seismic player, CGG, has been appointed to advise the Direction Generale des Hydrocarbures (DGH) on the promotion of this licensing round and has worked directly with the Ministry to acquire over 25,000 km2 of new 3D BroadSeis multi-client seismic data.
CGG completed the survey in 2015, shot simultaneously by its two vessels.
Minister, Etienne Dieudonné Ngoubou , said: “The Oil Ministry has very high hopes for Gabon’s new 11th licensing round and are excited by the opportunities for the successful development of this highly prospective region. New deep-water exploration wells offshore Gabon, such as Shell’s recent Leopard discovery, indicate a significant pre-salt basin and the new 3D multi-client data acquired by CGG greatly upgrades the resolution of the pre-salt image, further enhancing the chances of exploration success.”