<article><p class="lead">Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has named industry veteran Antonio Oburu Ondo as the country's new minister of mines and hydrocarbons as part of a cabinet reshuffle, according to sources.</p><p>Oburu Ondo, a former managing director of the country's state-owned oil company GEPetrol, replaces the long-serving Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima who moves over to the ministry of economy and planning. Obiang Lima, one of the president's sons, held the oil minister position for just over a decade.</p><p>Oburu Ondo takes the helm of the ministry at a difficult time for the west African country's oil industry. The Opec member's output has been on the decline since the start of 2022 and fell to just 60,000 b/d in December, according to <i>Argus</i> estimates, from above 100,000 b/d in the first quarter of the year. The decline has left Equatorial Guinea well short of its 120,000 b/d production quota under the latest iteration of the Opec+ production restraint deal that came into effect in 2020. </p><p>In a briefing with journalists last month, Obiang Lima put the decline down to a lack of available funding.</p><p>"Banks have been struggling to get approved for funding," he said. "Even exploration companies, for them to drill wells they need to raise their own money. But it's not like before… right now, we have close to 64 wells that need to do workovers."</p><p>"For us to continue producing, we need to reinvest. And this is the reason we are having difficulties," he said.</p><p>Attracting investment back to the upstream will be no easy task, given a gradual, global move towards cleaner forms of energy. But Oburu Ondo will hope the experience and relationships he built up over the years at GEPetrol will stand him in good stead to deliver, and drive forward the country's energy policy. </p><p class="bylines">By Nader Itayim</p></article>
