By George Ozalla
Renown international oil magnate cum philanthropist, Prince (Engr.) Arthur Eze ‘OFR who is the Chairman of Atlas Oranto Petroleum International Limited (AOPI), comprising of Atlas Petroleum International Limited and Oranto Petroleum International Limited, an oil and gas operating company with specialization in oil drilling services, has expanded its global frontiers with the signing of oil prospecting agreement in far away Venezuela, a tropical country on the northern coast of South America, bordering the Caribbean sea and the north Atlantic Ocean.
Prince (Engr.) Eze who recently signed the agreement with the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Madura, stated that: “this is the beginning of the company’s expansion to North and South American region”.
Before the Venezuelan oil deal, Oranto Petroleum has been a key industry player in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, and others.
Sometime last year, Uganda extended an oil exploration license to Oranto Petroleum by two additional years, beyond the December 29, 2023 expiration date of the initial deal for Ngassa Shallow and Deep areas in the western Hoima and Kikuube districts signed in 2017.
In 2017, Oranto was issued two petroleum exploration licenses for the Ngassa Deep and Ngassa Shallow contract areas in Uganda.
Atlas Petroleum International Limited had announced the Venus oil discovery in Block P, Equatorial Guinea, jointly with its partners Vaalco as Operator, and Guinea Ecuatorial de Petroleós Co. (GEPetrol) as the state-owned oil company of Equatorial Guinea, representing the interests of the state.
The joint venture will acquire, convert and install oil production infrastructure over the next three years. Venus field activities are expected to add 23.1 MMbbl of oil of 2P gross reserves. The partners expect oil production from the field to reach about 15,000 gross barrel per day of oil upon completion of the two development and injector wells.
A statement by Vaalco Energy, Inc. on the Block P Venus discovery Plan of Development (POD) in Equatorial Guinea, said: “Atlas Petroleum, as a legacy investor in Equatorial Guinea, has been a partner in Block P prior to Vaalco’s entrance to the block, and remains an investor with an active participating interest in Block P. Any claims to the contrary by Vaalco or any other company are false, outrageous and misleading.
“Atlas has not relinquished any part of its interest and does not intend to walk away from Block P. Any assertion by a company that has decided to drill and develop an oil field in the media is misleading. We know work is done on platforms not with the media and we urge our partners to refrain from this. We are in constant communication with the government and have never received a letter from the government or GEPetrol that our PSC and interest have been cancelled.”
