(Ecofin Agency) - China’s National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is currently being pressurized by the government to move ahead with plans to exploit the discovery made on Block S, in Equatorial Guinea.

According to the country’s Minister for Mines, Industry & Energy, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima (photo), the Ministry has before now given CNOOC sufficient time to create a development solution. He said if one is not presented by the company at the next technical committee meeting in Q3 of 2016, CNOOC and other companies present in the country will have to hand their blocks back.

Lima said the country is tired of waiting for new resources to be exploited and the demand is part of the government’s initiative to make sure that upstream activities are progressing. “Next year, they need to drill. We will aggressively approach all the operators because 2017 has to be a drilling year. I gave them extensions and a lot of them expire in the first or second quarter of next year. There are no more excuses. You either drill or you give us the block back,” he said.

Block S was discovered 13 years ago and it covers a total area of approximately 2,287 km² in the south offshore Equatorial Guinea. The water depth of the block ranges from 30 to 1500 meters.Hess was initially the operator of the block before it was acquired by CNOOC in 2006. Hess had revealed that the main issues as regards the discovery were the reservoir’s quality and productivity, Petroleum Africa reports.

Anita Fatunji