An Australian oil company has announced the launch of a US$54 million onshore oil exploration project in Cabinda, a region that has long been of interest to foreign oil companies. 

Below are extracts from an article published by Macauhub.

Australian oil company Roc Oil announced Tuesday [13 June 2007] in Sydney that it would invest US$54 million on exploration of the onshore area of Angola’s Cabinda enclave, which has been intact for 35 years.

The company said in a statement that on June 9 it had begun exploration work on the Massambala-1 well, the first of at least five to be opened in the Cabinda Sul bloc.

The work is expected to see results in August, the company noted.

Start of operations on the ground, it added, was delayed due to "problems in obtaining a platform."

Roc Oil has 60 percent of the consortium, Sonangol 20 percent and Force the remaining 20 percent.

Oil from Angola and other countries on the West African coast is preferred by gasoline producers as it has lower levels of sulphur than the varieties from the middle east.

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