ExxonMobil to reenter Gabon in oil exploration deal: sources

ExxonMobil is on the brink of reentering Gabon, with an exploration agreement expected to be signed this month, three people familiar with the matter told Platts.

During a panel discussion at the Africa Energy Week conference in Cape Town, taking place between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2, Gabon's oil minister Sosthene Nguema Nguema said international partners "have expressed interest in coming to Gabon", adding that one major agreement would be signed in the next two weeks.

A Gabonese source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations have not yet concluded, said it was a memorandum and understanding with ExxonMobil covering as many as six exploration blocks in the southern portion of Gabon's offshore basin, not far from neighboring Republic of Congo.

Gabon's government wants an aggressive exploration campaign, including seismic acquisition, ahead of a first well to be drilled after 18 months, the source said.

Another source close to the talks said the eventual deal could cover "a couple of blocks".

ExxonMobil declined to comment on the matter.

The US supermajor was previously active in the African country, making a discovery there with Chevron in 2006, but it does not currently hold any Gabonese oil acreage.

Officials in Libreville are battling to reverse production declines in the country, having seen crude output fall from a peak of 370,000 b/d in 1997 to 240,000 b/d in August, according to the Platts OPEC Survey from S&P Global Energy. The country relies heavily on oil revenues.

However, there has also been a recent spate of acquisitions by state-owned Gabon Oil Company -- including its purchase of 40,000 b/d Assala Energy in apre-emption deal and assets owned by UK-based Tullow Oil.

France's Maurel & Prom had already agreed to purchase London-based Assala from US private equity firm Carlyle, when it was pre-empted.

The new approach from GOC follows a military coup in Gabon in August 2023 by Brice Oligui Nguema, who has since won a decisive election victory with a campaign that emphasized energy sovereignty.

Exploration push

Senior government officials on a Gabon-focused panel at the Cape Town conference said Oct. 1 that the country's strategy is for GOC to acquire assets that private owners are trying to sell, mainly producing ones, while encouraging IOCs to undertake offshore exploration. They note that 72% of the country's oil acreage is unexplored.

"Gabon is not closed," Michel Mouba, a representative for Gabon's Ministry of Oil and Gas, told the conference. "The deep offshore is open and there is business for everyone."

The comments were echoed by oil minister Nguema in his address. "The situation in our fields is very worrying. A lot needs to be done," he said, noting Gabon's natural declines. "It is the choice of my country to prioritize exploration."

ExxonMobil has major exploration acreage in West Africa, with projects in Nigeria, Namibia, Angola and elsewhere, although it recently quit Equatorial Guinea, which neighbors Gabon.