*This is an edited version of a press release from the African Energy Chamber
Gabon’s Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and Norwegian seismic acquisition company PGS have expanded the Gabon MegaSurvey coverage, significantly increasing access to 3D seismic over the 35 blocks on offer under the ongoing 12th Offshore Licensing Round.
PGS and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons of Gabon, are now offering over 65 000Km2 of 3D seismic and over 21 000 km of 2D seismic data across the 35 blocks, providing a further opportunity to integrate new data into evaluations of open blocks.
While the crisis tied to the COVID-19 pandemic eases globally, Gabon is demonstrating its commitment to increasing investor appetite in an already successful 12th Offshore Licensing Round. Initially planned to close on April 30, 2020, the licensing round deadline has been extended to cope with the pandemic and a less friendly business environment in the last few weeks. Launched in November 2018, the round has resulted in the signing of a significant number of production sharing contracts.
“The Chamber notes the country’s continued commitment to offer an enabling business environment for investors, which echoes several recommendations issued earlier this year as part of our Africa’s Energy Commonsense agenda. We see the ongoing Licensing Round in Gabon as a pillar of future investments in the whole region and a booster to the sector’s recovery,” Leonco Amada Nze, African Energy Chamber President for the CEMAC region said.
Gabon’s competitive assets are supported by a new Hydrocarbons code, implemented on July 16, 2019, which offers a more attractive business environment for upstream oil and gas companies and further fiscal incentives for investors. Several major and frontier explorers are currently present in the country such as Total, Perenco, VAALCO Energy, BW Energy and Maurel & Prom, among others. Pre COVID-19, the country has made several significant offshore discoveries and is on track to reverse a historic decline in domestic oil production, while ensuring economic growth across sectors.
Furthermore, well specific data has been made available for 167 wells in the area covered by the MegaSurvey, supporting the data for the blocks on offer. “Value-added composite logs used in conjunction with the regional seismic dataset will help the assessment of prospectivity and play evaluation,” PGS said in a statement.
Prospective investors who wish to consult the MegaSurvey products can do so by contacting amme.info@pgs.com to find out more about tailored seismic and well data packages or to arrange a data viewing. In addition, all information related to the licensing round is available at
