The Ministry of Oil, Gas and Mines, Gabon, have expressed its wish to have Japanese investors participate in its ongoing call for tender for 35 maritime oil blocks in the country.
This was made known when the resident representative of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Yonezaki Eiro, visited the Gabonese Minister of Oil, Gas and Mines, Vincent de Paul Massassa, in Libreville on Friday, 18th September 2020.
The 35 maritime auctioned oil blocks in the 12th ongoing international tender includes 23 deep offshore blocks and 12 conventional offshore. The Minister expressed his desire to see Japanese investors actively participate in the call for tender which has been on since November 2018.
On his part, Yonezaki Eiro said, “we have very good relations with Gabon, moreover we buy Gabonese oil and are very good partners in several sectors.”
Although the coronavirus may have strongly affected the process of submitting the tenders, 24 companies are said to have already expressed interest in the blocks, with 18 companies interested in shallow offshore blocks and 6 in deep and ultra-deep offshore.
Japan is the latest country the Gabonese oil ministry is promoting the block to, after its promotions in South Africa, London, the United States of America, Brazil, India, China, Russia, Singapore and Equatorial Guinea.
