Equatorial Guinea’s Energy Sector Gets $2.4 Billion Boost

Equatorial Guinea’s energy industry has secured $2.4 billion of new investment from U.S. firms with 11 wells expected to be drilled from next year, an oil ministry source with direct knowledge told Reuters on Nov. 5.

In September, oil minister Gabriel Obiang Lima warned that the government might refuse extensions of existing licenses to oil companies unless they collectively invested a minimum of $2 billion in the country.

“We have secured $2.4 billion worth of investment that will go into drilling, into the backfill project and increasing production which has been declining,” the source said following three weeks of talks in Frankfurt, Houston and Dallas.

Companies expected to invest include ExxonMobil, Kosmos Energy, Marathon Oil Corp. and Noble Energy.