Part of the services the company has called for, such as import and freight for-warding, security operations, are the kind that the local players should be able to exploit.
The plan to acquire the seismic data comes nearly a year after Oranto signed Production Sharing Agreements with the government of Uganda. Since Oranto’s four-year license is split into two periods with two years each, the results of the seismic data will inform the work programme for the second period.
Under the conditions of the license, Oranto is supposed to acquire seismic data, which should prepare it to mobilize a rig and drill at least one well in the second period, which starts after October 2019.
Oranto Petroleum is on an ambitious campaign to explore the Ngassa well. Just like Cnooc’s Kingfisher oil well, the Ngassa well will have to be drilled in a deviated manner, where the rig is fixed on land before it diverts into Lake Albert.
Before Oranto Petroleum was awarded the Ngassa license in October last year, the area was being operated by Tullow Oil. Between 2007 and 2009, Tullow Oil drilled two wells within the Ngassa license. The government said “both gas and oil shows were encountered by the two wells.”
In early 2014, though, Tullow Oil relinquished the Ngassa license to government, booking a $67 million loss in the process, be¬cause it had failed on meeting some of the license requirements.
