Cobalt picks up provisional Angola license

Offshore staff

HOUSTON -- Cobalt International Energy has been conditionally awarded a 40% operating interest in block 20 offshore Angola, under the country’s Pre-salt Licensing Bid Round.

The successful bidders will work with state oil company Sonangol to negotiate definitive agreements governing exploration, development, and production operations on the awarded blocks.

Block 20 will not be rubber-stamped until these agreements have been completed, which may not be until mid-2011.

The 1.2 million acre (4,900-sq km) concession is 75 mi (120 km) west of Luanda in the deepwater Kwanza basin, and immediately north of block 21, where Cobalt is already present.

Joseph H. Bryant, Cobalt’s chairman and CEO, said: “Given our interests in blocks 9 and 21, access to block 20 would create an expanded operated position for Cobalt in the heart of Angola’s highly prospective Pre-salt play.”

01/26/2011