ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[RubyMartin]

China's Sinopec, Switzerland's Addax to jointly drill for oil off Sao Tome
March 11, 2007: 02:12 PM EST

SAO TOME, Mar. 11, 2007 (AFX International Focus) -- Chinese oil company Sinopec (NYSE:SNP) and Switzerland's Addax said they will join forces in the search for oil in the waters off Nigeria and the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe.

'We have decided to carry out the drilling together to reduce costs, come to more than 20 million dollars,' Addax's operations chief in the region Jeff Schrull told AFP.

Sao Tome's minister of natural resources, Manuel de Deus Lima, welcomed the signing of the deal a 'historic moment.'
'We have waited for a long time for the purchasing companies to advance on the road towards the first drillings,' he said.

The two companies signed a deal in Sao Tome on Friday to begin offshore drilling in the oil development zone from August 2008, using a specially adapted ship made by the Indian company Aban Abraham Offshore.

According to the companies, the crude oil reserves they are aiming to pump up lie at depths of between 1,500 and 3,500 metres (5,000-11,500 feet).

In addition to Addax and Sinopec, US oil companies ChevronTexaco (NYSE:CVX) and Anadarco, as well as Nigerian ERHC own blocs in the same development sector.

Sao Tome included its first anticipated oil revenues in its 2005 budget, but the reserves have yet to be proven and the barrels are not expected to begin flowing until 2010 or 2011.