Finally, some news from the company. It probably doesn't mean much by itself, but after months of no news, it IS something:
SAfrica, Pioneer sign oil exploration deal
By Emma Thomasson
PAARL, South Africa, Sept 2 (Reuters) - South Africa on
Wednesday signed an offshore oil exploration and production
agreement with U.S. firm Pioneer Natural Resources Co., which
it hopes will reduce its dependency on crude imports.
"We are very excited about the potential in South Africa,"
Pioneer Chief Executive Scott Sheffield told journalists after
the signing. "We are very excited we will find a lot of oil and
reduce South Africa's dependence on imported crude."
South Africa produces the equivalent of 200,000 barrels a
day of synthetic oil manufactured out of either coal or gas and
up to 25,000 barrels a day from an offshore field, but it still
imports some 300,000 barrels of oil a day.
The Dallas-based company signed the agreement with South
Africa's state-owned oil company Soekor, which will permit
Pioneer to conduct exclusive activities over a single contract
area covering about 10 million acres off the south coast.
Pioneer is due to invest over $22 million in the first
phase of explorations and Sheffield said the firm's fifth well
in the area was already ready to drill. The first phase of the
sub-lease will be for four years, followed by a conditional
renewal of three years and possibly a third phase.
The deal comes hot on the heels of an exploration deal
signed in June with U.S. independent Anschutz off South
Africa's west coast and another signed last year with PhillipsPetroleum Co.
of the United States.
The Pioneer area, called Block 7/10-14 B, covers water
depths of generally less than 650 feet. Pioneer will have a 100
percent working interest in the block, while Soekor retains the
right to a 10 percent working stake if the field is developed.
Pioneer already operates about three million acres of the
adjacent Block 9, where the Oribi field is already pumping up
to 25,000 barrels per day from two commercial wells.
Minerals and Energy Minister Penuell Maduna said South
Africa had also clinched a deal with Phoenix Canada Oil Co. Ltd
for two other blocks, one off the west coast and one
off the Cape Town coast, and would sign an agreement soon.
"I don't think people would be investing this much in
exploration if they had no hope of finding anything," he said.
"We think that the potential is great."
Joggie Heuser, Soekor chief executive, told Reuters South
Africa's 3,000 km of coastline was ripe for the taking. "South
Africa is still regarded as frontier country," he said.
David Broad, Soekor technical manager, told Reuters much of
South Africa's coastline displayed all the requirements for
substantial oil deposits as off Angola, adding that surveys
should give firmer indications in the next few years.
Broad said South Africa's remaining Blocks 3A and 4A were
of most interest and were currently under negotiation, while
Blocks 15 and 16 did not look so attractive and the other
remaining areas were mainly in deep water.
On Wednesday, Pioneer Natural Resources' stock was up 44
cents to $14.25 a share in composite New York Stock Exchangetrading.
((--Cape Town newsroom +27 21 252238reutercp@iafrica.com)) |
