Pharos Energy Plc, previously SOCO International, is an oil and gas exploration and production company, headquartered in London. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company has interests in Vietnam, the Republic of Congo, and Angola. In 2014 they explored for oil in Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the DRC, and attempted to bribe and intimidate people who opposed their efforts. Following international pressure they agreed to suspend further exploration.
History
In 2008 the company agreed to sell its operations in Yemen to Sinochem for $US465 million. In 2010 the company agreed to sell its Thailand assets to UK listed Salamander Energy for $US105m. During 2010, the company is aiming to derisk 600 million barrels of potential net recoverable reserves with a drilling programme focused in Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On 16 October 2019 the company announced that it had changed its name to Pharos Energy plc.
Operations
Pharos has been active in Vietnam since 1996 and currently has two oil and gas producing blocks in the country: Block 9-2 and Block 16-1 of the SOCO commenced oil production there in August 2015. Pharos has a 17% interest in Cabinda Onshore North Block, in the North Congo Basin, onshore western Cabinda in Angola. In February 2016 the company started drilling the Baobab Marine-1 well in the Mer Profonde Sud block offshore the Congo Brazzaville – Marine XI. SOCO said the well is "unique" to all of the other wells drilled on or near that block because it is targeting a different type of prospect. The well is targeting gross prospective recoverable resources of 330 million barrels of oil. SOCO's operations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the Onshore North Congo Basin e commenced in 2013 with a short bathymetry study of Lake Edward and ceased in August 2014, in accordance with its June 2014 public commitment.
Virunga National Park
In 2012 SOCO began to explore for oil in the Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is home to 200 of the remaining 700 endangered mountain gorilla. SOCO said it was not drilling for oil and had no plans to drill. Drilling was strongly opposed and condemned by the World Wide Fund for Nature. In 2010 SOCO received a Presidential decree from the Democratic Republic of Congo to explore for hydrocarbons in Block V, in the southern Albertine Graben, onshore eastern DRC. Block V encompassed an area of the Virunga National Park, a World Heritage Site, including a part of Lake Edward. SOCO had advised that Block V was not located close to the Mikeno Section, which is home to the mountain gorillas. In January 2011 SOCO employees allegedly forced their way into the Park, resulting in the conservation head of the park and several international agencies declaring their intention to bring lawsuits against SOCO. SOCO's share price subsequently fell. SOCO's Deputy Chief Executive Officer Roger Cagle said at the time that "The forcible entry is blatantly false." Cagle said SOCO was with a provincial member of parliament and had permission to enter the park. In March 2011 the then DRC Environment Minister Jose Endundo rejected an environmental assessment submitted by SOCO and announced that the government would now be conducting its own environmental assessment into oil exploration in Virunga, as well as the entire border region. Nevertheless, in September 2011 former Minister Endundo passed an order giving SOCO the authorisation to conduct the evaluation of hydrocarbons in the context of the Strategic Environmental Evaluation. In June 2014, SOCO signed a joint declaration with the World Wildlife Fund, saying it would not drill in Virunga "unless UNESCO and the D.R.C. government agree that such activities are not incompatible with its World Heritage status".However, SOCO has yet to relinquish its operating permits or commit to an unconditional withdrawal…"They’re leaving the door open," said Zach Abraham, director of the World Wildlife Fund's global campaigns. They at the time supposedly told the government they were planning to stay in the hope that the park borders would be changed. In a statement, Ed Story, SOCO's chief executive in 2017, said: “Hopefully we can all get back to activities focused on both people and the environment where it does the most good for a place that we think can have a better future.”
