By Omoh Gabriel,   Business Editor

A South Africa based oil and gas company SacOil has entered into a joint venture agreement with a Nigerian led and managed London based Pan Africa oil and gas  company, Energy Equity Resources with a view to acquiring some of the undeveloped oil and gas fields and also take advantage of the ongoing divestment of some multinational oil companies from oil wells in the country.

The joint venture agreement was signed yesterday between the two companies in South Africa. In the documents signed by both parties to the agreement the partnership is billed to focus on production and near production oil and gas fields; joint venture agreement with credible Nigerian local partner, EER; and joint venture positioned to participate in the Nigerian divestment programme for producing and near term production (undeveloped discoveries) oil and gas fields.
A statement issued after the ceremony said that “SacOil, the JSE listed Pan African independent upstream oil and gas company, has embarked on its strategy of seeking to acquire production and near production oil and gas fields on the African continent (“Production Assets”).

According to the statement “SacOil’s focus, in this regard, will be to target such Production Assets in established oil and gas production basins in Africa. Nigeria is the natural first stop given the long standing relations between Nigeria and South Africa.

More specifically, Nigeria has many discovered but undeveloped oil and gas fields and there is active divestment of certain Production Assets by international oil companies (“IOCs”) because of, inter alia, Nigeria’s Indigenisation Laws. To acquire Production Assets, SacOil needed a local Nigerian partner and SacOil is therefore pleased to announce its entry into an unincorporated joint venture agreement with Energy Equity Resources (“EER”).

The statement further said “EER is a Nigerian led and managed London based Pan African oil and gas company operating in Nigeria and Nigeria/Sao Tome joint development zone for over seven years. It has been involved in developing several assets in the region and worked with Shell, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Addax and Anadarko.

EER has also worked with several independent and local oil and gas companies such as Afren Plc and Oriental Energy Resources Ltd.

“EER has been involved in assisting the IOCs, host communities, the local and Federal government of Nigeria in finding a lasting solution to the issues in the Niger Delta. EER is run by professional and experienced Nigerian and International oil and gas industry experts and is owned by its management and some major United Kingdom institutional investors.

EER’s Chief Executive Officer, Osamede “Okhomina says “in SacOil we have a corporate partner that shares our business and social objectives. Most importantly SacOil’s access to the South African capital market and deep institutional investor base would ensure that the joint venture has necessary access to funding that meets its aggressive expansion objectives.”

“Robin Vela, Chief Executive Officer of SacOil, says “the Company is delighted to form an association with EER because of its excellent track record and access to near term production and producing fields in Nigeria. The arrangement with EER fits neatly with SacOil’s objective of working with credible local partners in the jurisdictions the Company looks to enter. EER maintains strong relationships with the Nigerian authorities, host communities and IOCs operating in Nigeria.”

“The joint venture’s envisaged initial transaction (in onshore Niger Delta) has a recoverable contingent resource (P50) (as verified by an independent competent person) of a 100 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) and a potential to produce up to 30 000 barrels of oil per day.

“SacOil has a world class exploration interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and produces manganese sulphate and oxide for the feed, fertiliser and chemical industries at its Greenhills plant in Mpumalanga, South Africa”.