The Republic of Congo ministers have adopted Soco’s applications for a 25-year exploitation permit over several offshore areas.
The oil company, operator of the Marine XI Block, said on Thursday the application covered the Viodo, Lideka and Loubana areas. These applications covered areas that were previously part of the shallow water Marine XI permit, which expired at the end of March 2017 following a one-year extension, Soco said.
According to Soco, these applications are in addition to the Lidongo PEX, also formerly part of Marine XI, which was validated on September 26, 2016 by the Council of Ministers.
Soco holds a 40.39% interest and is designated Operator of each of the Lidongo, Viodo, Lideka and Loubana permit areas. Project partners in each permit are WNR, SNPC, AOGC and PetroVietnam Exploration and Production.
Soco said it would assess the future program in line with wider strategy and update the market in due course.