Indies look to Equatorial Guinea as ExxonMobil pulls out

But even planned exploration activity is unlikely to reverse declining output from mature fields

Equatorial Guinea’s oil sector is in a period of transition. Output is declining, and ExxonMobil is set to depart the Central African nation soon, following years of operations. But at the same time, the OPEC member is also seeing plenty of IOC activity, while its NOC GEPetrol is poised to assume a greater role in the country’s upstream, so the outlook remains mixed. Equatorial Guinea’s oil and gas production is in a “long term trend of steady decline”, according to consultancy BMI. The country’s upstream is dominated by mature fields that have been in operation for years. Production of crude and other liquids totalled an estimated 139,900b/d last year, and BMI predicts that figure will fall