Low on reserves: Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima attends an Opec meeting in Vienna
Use it or lose it, Equatorial Guinea tells drillers
The West African state wants to see more activity from oil firms now the oil price has recovered, and is launching a new bid round
Equatorial Guinea has issued a stark warning to its oil and gas operators to either kick-start drilling in 2019 or "move aside", as the country ramps up efforts to stem declining oil production from maturing fields. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, the country's Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, said operators, which include ExxonMobil, Noble Energy, Kosmos Energy and Marathon Oil, had no excuse for delaying drilling programmes in the new era of higher oil prices. "2019 is an investment year," he said at September's Africa Oil and Power conference in Cape Town. "We will be very clear with the companies: if you invest, you can keep working in Equatorial Guinea. But if you are not going to invest,
Also in this section
5 December 2025
Mistaken assumptions around an oil bull run that never happened are a warning over the talk of a supply glut
4 December 2025
Time is running out for Lukoil and Rosneft to divest international assets that will be mostly rendered useless to them when the US sanctions deadline arrives in mid-December
3 December 2025
Aramco’s pursuit of $30b in US gas partnerships marks a strategic pivot. The US gains capital and certainty; Saudi Arabia gains access, flexibility and a new export future
2 December 2025
The interplay between OPEC+, China and the US will define oil markets throughout 2026
