By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea's energyindustry has secured $2.4 billion of new investment from U.S.firms with 11 wells expected to be drilled from next year, anoil ministry source with direct knowledge told Reuters onMonday.
In September, oil minister Gabriel Obiang Lima warned thatthe government might refuse extensions of existing licences tooil companies unless they collectively invested a minimum of $2billion in the country.
"We have secured $2.4 billion worth of investment that willgo into drilling, into the backfill project and increasingproduction which has been declining," the source said followingthree weeks of talks in Frankfurt, Houston and Dallas.
Companies expected to invest include ExxonMobil,Kosmos Energy, Marathon Oil Corp and NobleEnergy.
OPEC member Equatorial Guinea is Sub-Saharan Africa'sthird-largest oil producer and relies mainly on oil and gasexports to power its economy.
Future production is based on pooling supply from strandedgas fields in Equatorial Guinea and the wider region, raisingthe prospect of boosting LNG output and state energy revenue.
"You are going to see between $300 to $400 million capitalinvestment between Noble, Atlas Petroleum, Marathon and Glencoreand all the partners in Block O and I for this backfill project…so you are going to be guaranteed LNG to 2030/35," the oilministry source said.
Negotiations were also continuing with potential LNGoff-takers as Shell's exclusive arrangement draws to a close in2020, which Reuters exclusively reported in May.
"There are no negotiations with Shell because the test thegovernment had for Shell was whether they would invest and theyhave declined and shown no interest to invest. You might evensee an American company getting the new off-take agreementbecause they are investing and taking risks," the source said.
Equatorial Guinea will officially launch a new oil and gasexploration round in April, not January as previously announced,the source said, and expects to announce the results later in2019.(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; editing by Jason Neely)