PetroSA pursues Equatorial Guinea's oil

PetroSA, South Africa’s state-owned oil and gas group, was still aggressively pursuing opportunities in Equatorial Guinea and was confident these were nearing conclusion, company spokesperson Nhlanhla Ngwenya said.
PetroSA is believed to be in the final stages of discussions with its Equatorial Guinean counterpart, GEPetrol, for the attribution of offshore oil exploration rights. PetroSA reportedly has its sights on an offshore block along the border with Cameroon.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the minister of minerals and energy, would lead a trade delegation to Equatorial Guinea this month to discuss economic issues including oil, mining, energy, construction and tourism.
A report said South Africa was in advanced talks for the rights and that PetroSA has confirmed the talks but could not say any more, "since final agreements have not been concluded". The report said a source close to the Equatorial Guinean government said that finalisation was now "in the hands of PetroSA".

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema and President Thabo Mbeki had discussed oil co-operation and PetroSA being awarded the exploration blocks. Asked about the assertion in the articles that the reason PetroSA would obtain the concessions was South Africa's help in stopping a mercenary-led coup, Ngwenya said: "PetroSA knows that its growth in the exploration and production world rest in our partnerships with other African oil producing countries where we pursue win-win deals.”
"The countries -- Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Angola and Guinea - are well endowed with minerals, and what we bring is expertise. Equatorial Guinea is not an exception, that suddenly we went to that country because there was unrest. In fact, we were there two years before the unrest," he said.

Nick du Toit and 19 others were arrested in Equatorial Guinea on suspicion that they were the advance party of a larger group planning to overthrow Obiang. South African intelligence subsequently confirmed that it had provided information about the plot to its Zimbabwean and Equatorial Guinean counterparts.
Observers have noted that had the coup succeeded, the mercenaries and their bankrollers would have been given lucrative business concessions in the oil-rich country. It is this quest for oil concessions by a constitutional democracy like South Africa, with its opposition to human rights abuses, that has raised eyebrows.