ERHC Energy Inc (ERHE)

[RUBY1100]

*****DOW JONES NEWS******ERHC*****
Sao Tome Says Oil Field Negotiations To Wrap Up In 3 Mos
24 Jun 2005 10:17 ET DJ


LONDON (Dow Jones)--Negotiations for operating agreements and production sharing contracts on five Sao Tome oil blocks should be finished within three months, the agency overseeing talks said Friday.

The five oil blocks were awarded May 31 after protracted talks between the Nigerian and Sao Tome which jointly govern the offshore fields believed to hold billions of barrels of oil.

The talks were marred with accusations of corruption and rocked the tiny island-state of Sao Tome with a series of high profile resignations from government.

The Joint Development Authority said in a statement that all the awardees of the bidding round have accepted the offers.

The statement said the agreements would be modeled on the contracts signed for block 1 which was granted earlier to Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM) in February.

Winners in the second round include Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) and ERHC Energy Inc. (ERHE) on block two.

Block three went to Anadarko Petroleum (APC). Block four was awarded to a consortium of Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) and ERHC. Block five was given to Nigerian independents I.C.C-O.E.O.C.

Nigerian independent Filtim-Huzod won block 6.

-By Shai Oster, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 24, 2005 10:17 ET (14:17 GMT)