New Ventures
The New Ventures Department in Addax Petroleum is constantly pursuing various upstream opportunities in order to increase the company’s asset base. Such opportunities include bid rounds, out-of round applications and acquisitions through farm-out and asset sales. Addax Petroleum’s new venture activities focus clearly on Africa and the Middle East with the following main areas:
West Africa
Addax Petroleum is a well-established player in Nigeria, Cameroon and Gabon, and it is only natural that these countries are core for expanding its activities. Furthermore, there is a clear desire to expand into other areas in Gulf of Guinea region such as Equatorial Guinea, Angola or Congo. The region offers prolific hydrocarbon basins with significant opportunities ranging from the onshore, through shallow offshore to deep water. Many geological plays are similar to those that the company successfully operates and produces in the West Africa. Addax Petroleum is particularly looking for opportunities where the use of latest available technologies in seismic and drilling can make a difference, e.g. in mature underdeveloped basins or deep-water frontier exploration.
Middle East / North Africa (MENA)
One of Addax Petroleum’s declared New Venture Strategies is to establish new core investment areas outside West Africa. Current efforts in this respect are focussing on the MENA region, where Addax Petroleum has already established a presence in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The Middle East therefore constitutes a centre of attention, and – pending the availability of suitable acreage and political developments – Addax Petroleum is positioning itself to obtain further oil rights in Iraq, as well as in other countries of the Middle East
North Africa, including the countries of Algeria, Libya and Egypt, is particularly attractive due to the presence of proven prolific hydrocarbon basins and the region’s unique strategic position in respect to oil and gas export to major North American and European markets. The company has participated in various bid rounds is currently evaluating several opportunities in this area.