Volume 3, issue #7 - 04-03-1998

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Ranger to invest more in Ivory Coast

Jan. 21, 1998 Ranger Oil Ltd Vice President Phillip Irwin said it was prepared to invest more heavily in Ivory Coast because its important offshore oil potential was backed by political stability. Canadian Ranger has interests in three offshore oil blocs in Ivory Coast, CI 102, CI 101 and CI 103.
Agreements to develop the latter two were signed in December and Ranger is to invest an initial 60 billion CFA francs ($ 98 million) in them. "We are ready to spend more money in Ivory Coast if the first results are encouraging," Irwin told.
Irwin also said that political risk was one of the first things the company looked at before investing in a country. "As regards Ivory Coast, we think, taking into account its great political stability, that we are quite okay. We reckon the political risk is very slight, and that's what justifies the large investments we are making in this country."
Under the offshore prospecting agreements, Ivory Coast will take 45 % of the profits from the various operating areas,after costs.
Irwin described this percentage as "equitable and acceptable."
"You find this percentage in oil industry contracts in general and in the offshore sector in particular," he said.