Chevron Corp. is finalizing a production-sharing deal with Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo to operate their shared offshore oil block, Congolese Oil Minister Didier Budimbu Ntubuanga said.
There is a draft of the pact and this month the parties have been invited to discuss the development of the block known as 14c and the zone of common interest, Budimbu said in an interview in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.
“We’re pretty much at the end,” he said. The two countries have been negotiating the development of the bloc in the Atlantic Ocean for about 15 years. A company owned by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler previously held shares in the block.
Budimbu is pushing to expand Congo’s oil production from 25,000 barrels a day and is auctioning 27 new blocks as part of the effort. Angola pumped around 1 million barrels a day in March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, making it Africa’s third-largest producer. The two countries have had a long-running dispute over other offshore oil blocks controlled by Angola that Congo claims as its own.
A Chevron spokesman declined to comment.
Angola’s state-owned EP Sonangol told Bloomberg in an email that Angola’s National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency, or ANPG, had assumed its role as the national concessionaire in the partnership, which is divided equally between the two countries. ANPG did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Gertler shares
As part of the deal, Sonangol is writing off a $200 million debt owed to it by Congolese state oil company, now known as Sonahydroc SA, Budimbu said.
The debt stems from a 2012 transaction in which Sonangol paid $150 million to Gertler’s Nessergy Ltd. to renounce their actions in the area of common interest. Nessergy had bought a majority stake in Congo in 2006 for $500,000.
Budimbu said that in addition to the $150 million for Nessergy, Sonangol also financed a previously undisclosed $50 million payment to the company of Antoine Ghonda, an adviser to former Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who negotiate on behalf of the Congo. Sonangol also agreed to cancel that payment, Budimbu said.
“Being under contract with Sonangol, only Sonangol is authorized to respond,” Ghonda wrote in response to questions from Bloomberg.
Sonangol declined to comment. In its 2021 annual report, the Luanda-based company said it paid $200 million as part of its 2012 deal with Nessergy to sell its stake in the block. The report says the money was to be repaid through the project’s profit oil and makes no mention of Ghonda’s payment.
Gertler’s lawyers said in an emailed letter responding to questions that Nessergy received only $150 million for the deal and that Sonangol’s report suggesting Nessergy received more than that was “as wrong as fake”.
The US government cited the deal in 2017 when it sanctioned Gertler for alleged corruption in Congo, saying it represented “a loss of $149.5 million in potential revenue” for the country. Gertler has always denied that his dealings in the Congo were corrupt and has never been accused of a crime.
Oil production from the block could begin as soon as two years after an agreement is signed, Budimbu said.
–With the assistance of Candido Mendes and Kevin Crowley.
