Swedish Lundin to restart Sudan oil investments
June 21, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Federal Minister of Energy and Mining, Awad Ahmed Al-Jaz, received at his office the Director of Swedish Lundin Petroleum AB Wednesday. He reviewed the company’s plan to develop Sarehat oil square 5/1.
Lundin Petroleum holds a 24.5% interest in Block 5B that covers the southern part of the Muglad basin. The block is on trend with the discoveries made by Chevron and later GNPOC in Blocks 1, 2 and 4 and recently by the Petronas/ONGC/Sudapet group in Block 5A.
The program includes the acquisition of 1,100 line kilometers of 2D seismic data in the first half of 2006, building of necessary infrastructure to support drilling operations, and drilling of up to three exploration wells commencing late 2006.
At the end of November 2003, the Swedish oil company was accused by Human Rights Watch of fueling fighting in southern Sudan, but Lundin Petroleum AB, rejected the allegations and insisted its operations there had helped promote human rights.
The company sold most of its oil interests in Sudan to a Malaysian state-owned company in June 2003.
Present at the meeting was the Oil Exploration Director, Awadal-Karim Khair and a number of senior officials at the Ministry of Energy and Mining.
Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO Lundin Petroleum has invited the minister to visit Sweden as soon as possible. He hoped that the cooperation between Sudan and Sweden will witness more progress, especially in the investment field. He referred to vast potentialities and resources in Sudan.
Rights to the concession of Block 5B were awarded under an Exploration & Production Sharing Agreement signed on 2 May 2001, to a consortium composed of Petronas Carigali White Nile (5B) Ltd (39%), Lundin Petroleum AB (Lundin Block 5B BV) (24,5%), ONGC Videsh Ltd (23,5%) and Sudapet Ltd (13%).
The Block is operated by WNPOC, a joint operating company between PETRONAS and Sudapet on behalf of the consortium members.
Block 5B is located in the Muglad Basin and covers an area of 20,119 square kilometers. Muglad is the main oil-producing basin in Sudan and has seen the development of several large oilfields over the past few years. So far the consortium has been active in reprocessing and reinterpreting existing seismic data.
- Database Search
- Unpaid Debt A comprehensive overview of the role of the Lundin Consortium in the oil war. ECOS calls upon the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments to investigate whether, as a matter of international law, Lundin, OMV and Petronas 'were complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by others during the period 1997-2003.’ In response, the Swedish Public Prosecutor for International crimes opened a criminal investigation into ‘links between Sweden and the reported crimes’.
- In Depth For more specific information about the Lundin court case please visit the Unpaid Debt dossier.
