WEST AFRICA
Island nations off East Africa hold
frontier exploration potential
The Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius attract international interest
In light of the recent discoveries that have been made offshore East Africa, the archipelagos of the Indian Ocean have received more attention from the internationaloilandgasindustry. While
the industry’s interest is still somewhat nascent, there is a long road ahead before the
hydrocarbon potential thereof can be wholly
assessed. Aside from the geographical proximity to the famous plays of East Africa,
the marine territory of each of the relevant
archipelagos is truly substantial, a factor
that adds to their allure, particularly since
access-related issues that are renowned for
complicating land-based exploration will not
apply. There are many islands within the Indian Ocean but the three that are perhaps
the most advanced in terms of the degree
to which the governments have begun to focus on capturing the interest of international
oil companies (IOCs) are the Comoros,
Seychelles, and Mauritius. The following is
a synopsis of the oil and gas activity in the
waters of each of these island nations.
The Comoros
The Comoros gained independence from
France in 1975. Since then the tiny nation
of roughly 735,000 people has endured 20
coups and only as recently as 2006 did it
experience its frst peaceful transfer of po-
litical power. The Ibrahim Index for African
Governance (IIAG), which provides an an-
nual assessment of governance across the
continent, ranked the Comoros 32nd out of
Africa’s 48 sub-Saharan countries. Addition-
ally, Freedom House, a non-governmental
organization involved in the advocacy of
democracy and human rights, reported
in its Freedom in the World 2014 survey
that the Comoros is only “partly free” due
to, amongst other things, weak rule of law
and restrictions on political rights and civil
liberties. In spite of these worrying trends,
there has been an increase in the number of
IOCs that have shown an interest in acquir-
ing acreage within the Comoros and a con-
comitant rise in the introduction of industry-
specifc legislation.
In 2013, the Comorian government implemented a new petroleum code that is on a par
with international standards and, soon thereafter, signed an exploration and production-sharing contract (PSC) with Kenyan-based
Bahari Resources Ltd. and Discover Exploration Comoros BVC, a unit of London-based
Discover Exploration Ltd. The license area,
which includes blocks 35, 36, and 37, is on
the western boundary of the Comoros and
adjacent to Mozambique’s Area 1 and Area
4 in the Rovuma Delta where Eni SpA and
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. made their gas
fnds. Proximity to such gas-rich acreage is
not the only interesting aspect of the PSC.
The terms of the PSC include conducting a
regional study of the entire Comorian territory, the results of which will be used to assist
with the demarcation of additional blocks and
the attraction of additional upstream-related
investment.
Bahari and Discover are not the only IOCs
that have taken an interest in Comorian acre-
age. Mauritius-based Safari Petroleum, in part-
nership with US-based Western Energy Pro-
duction, has been authorized to explore three
of the 40 demarcated blocks. Consequently,
although the economist and author, Duncan
Clarke, wrote in his book, Crude Continent:
The Struggle for Africa’s Oil Prize, that the “Co-
moros…is a lost archipelago in the oil game,”
it seems that the times are changing and Co-
moros may have found its way out of the wilder-
ness, so to speak.
Seychelles
The Seychelles consists of 155 islands and
possesses the smallest population of any African nation, with roughly 90,000 Seychellois
living in the archipelago. The island nation
is ranked ffth on the IIAG. With relatively
good governance and a small population,
the discovery of commercial quantities of
hydrocarbons could have a dramatic impact
on the lives of the Seychellois. However, it
is underexplored and only four exploratory
wells have been drilled. The most recent
was drilled by Enterprise Oil in 1995, and it
was dry. The other three wells were drilled
in the early 1980s by Amoco and, although
commercial quantities of hydrocarbons were
not discovered, there were oil and gas shows,
Dr. Luke Havemann
ENSafrica
The license area takes in blocks 35, 36, and 37 and covers about 18,000 sq km ( 6,950 sq mi) offshore
the Comoros. (Image courtesy Bahari Resources)
