Awow Daniel Chuang, South Sudan’s minister of petroleum, will announce South Sudan’s 2020 oil and gas licensing round at two strategic conferences this October
The events are Africa Oil & Power 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa, on 9-11 October and South Sudan Oil & Power (SSOP) 2019 in Juba on 29-30 October.
The minister will also announce a tender for an environmental audit for the country’s producing oilfields at the SSOP conference.
The Ministry of Petroleum is now actively seeking exploration, seismic and geophysical companies to gather and present exploration data at the event and is inviting Canadian, the US and European companies to SSOP 2019 to gain a better understanding South Sudan’s oil and gas sector.
Guillaume Doane, CEO of Africa Oil & Power, said, “This is an incredible milestone in South Sudan’s plans to double oil production by 2020. The country has a massive onshore reserve base and vast unexplored areas that make a licensing round very exciting.”
Foreign investment has also increased through oil and gas exploration companies including Oranto Petroleum, which signed a six-year exploration and production sharing agreement (EPSA) for Block B3 in 2017 and South Africa’s Strategic Fuel Fund, which signed an EPSA for Block B2 in March this year.
The Petroleum Ministry of South Sudan has reiterated plans to return to pre-war production levels of 350,000 bpd by 2020 and will do so by increasing production in Greater Pioneer Operating Company’s recently rehabilitated oilfields and resuming production in Sudd Petroleum Operating Company fields.
The Ministry has stressed a particular need for geophysical and seismic companies to assess the vast oil and gas resources of South Sudan, which are underexplored by estimates of up to 70 per cent.
The resumption of oil production has provided new impetus to bring new oilfield technology to the country, especially new environmental technologies.
Hosted by Africa Oil & Power for the third year running, SSOP 2019 confirmed partnerships with the ministries of petroleum, energy and dams and finance and economic planning of South Sudan; as well as national oil companies Nilepet, major investors Petronas and CNPC, and joint operating oil companies Dar Petroleum Operating Company, Greater Pioneer Operating Company.
South Sudan Oil & Power will host panels on finance, oilfield technology and community development.
