Chevron Still Negotiating On Offshore Angola

CheveronTexaco said it was still negotiating a renewal of its biggest production concession, Block 0, offshore Angola.

ChevronTexaco operates the block, the largest single production area in Angola with over half the country's output of 450,000 barrels per day, whose lease expires in 2010. "We are negotiating that deal for Block 0 but we've not finalized the deal yet. The lease expires in 2010," a company spokesman said.

"We don't expect an early conclusion and even if we reached an agreement with Sonangol, the deal will still have to go through government approval," he said. The spokesman declined to comment on when a deal was likely to be finalized. Block 0 is a 2,100 square-mile concession adjacent to the Cabinda coastline, in northern Angola, in which the company has a 39.2 percent interest.

Other shareholders are Sonangol with 41 percent, TotalFinaElf with10 percent and Agip with 9.8 percent. Major fields discovered in the Blocks include Banzala, Kokongo, Lomba, N'Dola, North Nemba, Numbi.