Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons has announced the winners of the 2019 licensing round for its oil, gas and mining acreage.

Officially launched in April, the round received interest from 53 international and national companies, with 17 companies submitting official bids and seven companies awarded concessions for nine blocks:

• Block EG-27 (formerly Block R) in the Niger Basin, was awarded to Russian energy multinational Lukoil and GEPetrol
• Block EG-23 in the Niger Basin, which hosts the Estaurolita gas discovery, was granted to WalterSmith, Hawtai Energy and GEPetrol.
• EG-09 in the Duala Basin was awarded to Noble Energy and GEPetrol
• In the Rio Muni Basin, EG-18 was awarded to Africa Oil Corporation and GEPetrol
• EG-03 was awarded to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol
• EG-04 was awarded to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol
• EG-19 was awarded to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol
• Block P was awarded to to Vaalco Energy, Levene Energy and GEPetrol
• Block EG-28 was awarded to GEPetrol

The Ministry aims to sign production sharing contracts as soon as possible to enter into the next phase of negotiation. To work more collaboratively with potential investors, all of the blocks were offered on a drill-or-drop basis, with a reduction of signature bonuses to a minimum of $1 million and elimination of all pre-qualification requirements. The drill-or-drop policy provides each company with an initial two-year period to explore, process seismic data, define well locations, bring in additional investment, if necessary, and begin drilling. Only after this period, in which a company has the opportunity to evaluate and reduce its risk from the data obtained, will the company have to decide whether it wants to proceed with the exploration well or relinquish its license.