In bids for oil exploration, Four foreign oil companies win in exploring seven Yemen oil sectors [Archives:2005/869/Business & Economy]
Four world oil companies, among them an UAE's, have won concessions rights to exploration of oil in seven open sectors in Yemen. The UAE-based Al-Thani company has won the exploration work in sectors 34, 37 in the governorate of al-Mahra and sector 55 in Hajjah.
Oil sources have made it clear that final results of the second international tender on the seven open oil sectors in Yemen, since the announcement in February 2005, resulted in winning of the oil companies: Australian Oil Search Co., UAE Al-Thani for Investments Co., the Korean KNOC Co. and the American Occidental Co. This result indicates one-hundred percent success as all the seven sectors included in the tender have demanded by the companies besides the excellent competitive technical and financial terms offered by the competitor companies.
Oil minister Dr Rashid Barabbaa has made it clear that the total minimum amount of financial expenses for exploration operations amounted to $174 million and 300 thousand during the first and second stages of exploration. The total amount of annual grants reached $3 million and 325 thousand and the total of signing grants, 12 million and 654 thousand and total amount allotted to commercial advertising $8 million and 800 thousand.
Eng. Nabil Saleh al-Qawsi, president of oil exploration and production authority has attributed the success of that tender to transparency of the procedures pursued by the committee in charge of with implementation of measures of the tender and discovery of oil deposits inside the rocks in basins of Mareb, Shabwa and Masila as well as the efforts made by the authority in under supervision and follow-up of the oil ministry leadership.
Mr al-Qawsi added that the tender success could be embodied by the big increase in grants for signing that received an increase by 50%, the increase in advertising grants, and the state's share in oil generated from participation in oil production. In this regard, the government share has risen by 79 percent. As for the technical terms, Mr al-Qawsi says they are including the digging of 29 exploratory wells and the implementation of 10.600km of two-dimension seismic surveys and also implementation of 3.200km of three-dimension seismic surveys in the seven sectors. He deemed that announcement of two international tenders for 13 open sectors as an utter success in the history of exploratory and promotional work in Yemen. in addition he says the authority has set up the oil map for the republic so that the number of oil sectors reached 87, 11 of which productive in which 9 companies are working and 21 exploratory sectors using 13 companies and four sectors, still under endorsement, 9 sectors under negotiations on a production participation agreement and 42 open sectors, among them 14 under advertising in the third international tender. He concluded that his authority was working for consolidating oil discoveries inside rocks in the basins of Shabwa, Mareb and Masila and to develop expertise through the conduct of geological and technical studies, exchange of expertise with countries producing oil from such rocks.
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