Brazil's Petrobras wins operating rights in Angola http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-11-05T161750Z_01_N05261319_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-BRAZIL-ANGOLA.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
Sun Nov 5, 2006
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Brazil's state oil company Petrobras has signed four production-sharing deals with Angola's national oil company Sonangol, winning operating rights for the first time in the southwest African country.
Under the agreements, Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile , Research)(PBR.N: Quote, Profile , Research) will acquire 3D seismic data and drill exploration wells at the shallow-water 6/06 block in the Kwanza basin, the deep-water 18/06 block in the Lower Congo basin and Block 26 at the deep-water frontier Benguela basin.
Petrobras got a 40-percent stake in the 6/06 area, 30 percent in 18/06 and 80 percent in Block 26, all with operating rights. The operator will drill seven exploration wells in the 18/06 area and two wells in each of the other two blocks.
It will also be a nonoperating partner with a 5-percent stake in the 15/06 area of the Lower Congo basin.
Petrobras said in a statement published on its Web site late on Friday that Block 26 represented a geological and geophysical model similar to those found off Brazil's coast. Petrobras is one of the world's leading companies in deep-sea oil prospecting and production.
"With the signature of these four contracts, Petrobras ... inaugurates a new phase in Angola where it will be acting as an operator for the first time," the statement said. It has been working in Angola since 1979 and Petrobras said the country is one of its investment priorities.
Apart from Angola, Petrobras overseas oil or natural gas production operations include Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the United States and Venezuela.
On Oct. 27, Petrobras signed a memorandum of understanding with Mozambique's state company ENH to prospect for oil and natural gas in the country on Africa's eastern shore and research for biofuels there.
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