Fugro: Pipeline Survey between Algeria and Italy

As North Africa gains in importance for it's natural gas exports to Europe, links are being made between the two continents.






Recently, on Rigzone, Fugro announced that they've "been awarded a contract to perform a detailed marine survey in the Mediterranean Sea to select the best route for the GALSI gas pipeline from Algeria to Southern Sardinia, and then from Northern Sardinia to the mainland of Italy".






Fugro will be using their vessel, the Geo Prospector (pictured on the right) and their geotechnical vessel, the Bucentaur (pictured on the left) - a drillship to do geological sampling.

The work is being financed by a group of companies, under a Joint Venture named Galsi S.p.A and includes the following companies:

1. Sonatrach
2. Edison
3. Enel
4. Wintershall
5. Hera
6. and the Sardinian company Sfirs.

Reading through the above Wikipedia corporate description of Galsi S.p.A, it can be seen that Sonatrach has the largest percentage, 36% and that Russia's Gazprom may potentially have an interest in the company and pipeline as well. Again, a there is a good mix of National and Independent's working together.






As developed countries look to do more business and as North Africa opens its doors to exploration, more and more links will be made. This pipeline begins in the middle of the Sahara and ends near Tuscany, Italy. Wikipedia describes the route as:





"The pipeline will start from the Hassi R'mel field in Algeria and the 640 kilometers long first section will run to El Kala at the coast of Mediterranean Sea. The 310 kilometers long offshore section with two legs will be laid between El Kala and Cagliary, Sardinia."





I worked in Hassi R'mel when I was in Algeria with Schlumberger and can definitely say Algeria has potential to become more a power in North Africa, if it follows Libya and Tunisia's model and focus on building a solid infrastructure and employing more locals. The oil infrastructure is a start, the next step is the roads, the sewers, and promoting a safe work environment. In the end though, I would return to Algeria and Hassi R'mel in a heart beat, as the people I met and Sahara desert is definitely a place to visit and experience.






Eni has been making investments in North Africa, mainly in Libya for the last quarter of a century. There is this very recent Press Release which states clearly that Libya's NOC and Eni "will continue to explore the prolific NC41 offshore area, and strengthen the hub of Mellitah by expanding gas export capacity from 8 to 16 billion cubic meters/year"






Expect over the next few years to see more positive news coming from North Africa.

Kenya: Lundin Petroleum building on the Anza Basin

When people think of Africa and oil and gas, they most often think of the oil producing nations of Angola and Nigeria, along with the gas producers of Algeria and Tunisia. East Africa is not often thought about as a producer.

Kenya’s Petroleum potential is best depicted by the four large sized sedimentary basins that straddle the Country (I've attached maps from the National Oil Company of Kenya - NOCK). The four basins are the Lamu, Anza, Mandera, and Tertiary Rift basins.

On October 4th, 2007, in Nairobi, Lundin Kenya B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundin Petroleum, signed a PSC (Production Sharing Contract) with the Honourable Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kenya. Block 10A covers an area of 14,748 square kilometers and is located in the onshore Anza Basin, an extension of the prolific Muglad Basin of Sudan.

From the NOCK website: "The Anza Basin is one in a series of Cretaceous-Tertiary failed rifts that trend across the Central African Craton from the Benue trough in Nigeria through Chad and the Central African Republic, the Sudan and Kenya. The right lateral movement on the Central Africa rift system is interpreted to have translated to Northeast-Southwest extension in Sudan and Kenya beginning by Barremian-Neocomian (Lower Cretaceous) time, resulting in basins with an overall northwest - southeast trend that is nearly perpendicular to the shear zone. Rifting continued into the Tertiary. Muglad, Melut and Blue Nile Basins of Sudan strike in the same direction as the Anza Basin. The Anza Basin is thought to correlate with the Mugland Rift Basin of South Sudan where profilic oil discoveries have been made The Anza Basin extends towards Lake Turkana and is separated from Mandera and Lamu Basins by the NW-SE trending Lagh Bogal fault and ENE-WSW trending Garissa-Walmerer basement high inferred fault respectively. The total surface area of the Anza Basin is about 94, 220 sq. km. The deepest well drilled in this basin to date reached a total depth of 4,392m."

In many cases, it is the small or mid-size independent oil and gas companies that do the major exploration, only to be gobbled up (thinking of Canadian Thanksgiving and turkeys!) by the Majors who are looking at bringing on proven reserves, without having to do all the hard exploration work. First Calgary Petroleum in Calgary is another small company that is working exclusively in Algeria. The logistics of working in Africa or any area where there is a lack of infrastructure (roads, pipelines, etc.) makes these challenging, yet exciting ventures to be involved in if one is fortunate enough.

Often in oil and gas, we only see the Majors (the ExxonMobils, Total, BP, Eni, etc.) and we tend to forget about the small companies that forge the way, through exploration and aquisition.

The good news is that exploration is continuing and there are opportunities out there for small and large companies to participate in this. Lundin and First Calgary are showing that Africa is not the great unknown and by willing to go into countries and take a chance, there may be successes. There may also be failures, but that comes with the business of exploration

Look out for these juniors!