Oando Plc Favour Ifeoluwa & Akinola Ajibade Oando Plc says it has completed and won the bid for the operatorship of oil block KON 13 in Angola. The firm which recently acquired Eni of Italy’s oil assets in Nigeria, said that the award of the oil block located in Angola’s onshore Kwanza Basin followed a competitive bidding process by the country’s oil and gas sector regulator. It further said hat the asset in which it owns 45 per cent participating interest, has estimated prospective resources of 770 to 1,100 million barrels of oil. Oando is handling its operations relating to the asset through its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER). “Oando Plc, Africa’s leading indigenous energy solutions provider listed on both the Nigerian Exchange Limited and Johannesburg Stock Exchange is pleased to announce that its upstream subsidiary, Oando Energy Resources (OER), has been awarded operatorship of Block KON 13 in Angola’s Onshore Kwanza Basin, following a...
Equitorial Guinea: Ship alledgedly used in ferrying crude oil
By Akinola Ajibade
Nigeria's campaign against crude oil thefts is yet to achieve its goal of nipping the unwholesome practices in the bud, as its citizens woke up, last week to receive the news of a carrier arrested and detained in Equitorial Guinea, another country in Africa.
Known as Heroic Idun, the ship, was suspected to be carrying crude alledgedly stolen from Nigeria, when it was arrested and subsequently detained by the Navy in Guinea. This was after the vessel got into a dispute with Nigerian authorities.
Of note, was the allegations that the 300,000 dead weight tonnage carrier entered Guineanan water without permission, as it tried to evade the Nigerian forces.
Confirming its detention, the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema, said that the ship is anchored in the country's water, while at the same, conducting investigations on it.
He made the confirmation through his twitter handle.
“Equatorial Guinea is still investigating the tanker detained last week in Annobon following a tip-off from Nigeria. So far, the tanker has incurred two serious offences; first, entering our waters without prior authorisation and second, navigating without an identifying flag,” Nguema wrote.
The local media reported that Heroic Idun, registered in the Marshall Islands, was seen near the AKPO oil field, off the Nigerian coast, on August 7.
The Nigerian Navy’s Maritime Domain Awareness facility was the first to detect the vessel and flagged it for suspicious activity.
After the tanker departing an offshore field in Nigeria, the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Gongola tried to establish communication with its crew to question them on their activity and inspect ship’s papers.
The tanker reportedly resisted the contact and at one point issued a warning of an attempted boarding that was recorded by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which was later believed to be a false alarm.
When the vessel was ordered by NNS Gongola to proceed to Bonny Fairway for further interrogation, it instead increased its speed and changed its direction toward Sao Tome and Principe.
The Nigerian forces requested the assistance of neighbouring Equatorial Guinea in the pursuit of the crude oil tanker, which was eventually arrested on the afternoon of August 12 and ordered to sail to Equatorial Guinea.
Recall that Nigeria, according to its Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timpreye Sylva loses more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil and $40million respectively daily.
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