Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad’s subsidiary, Gulf Hibiscus Limited, has been awarded the South East Ras El Ush concession (Block 2) in Egypt by the Ganoub El-Wadi Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope), an entity of the Ministry of Petroleum, Arab Republic of Egypt.
According to Hibiscus, the block was awarded to its subsidiary, whose principal activity is investment holding, providing project management, technical and other services to oil and gas concessions, and its partner Pacific Oil who will act as the operator of the concession. Pacific Oil’s main activity is to pursue oil and gas, exploration and production opportunities predominantly in Africa.
The block was awarded as part of the International Bid Round, 2014 that included ten exploration blocks in the Gulf of Suez, West Nile and East Nile.
Block 2 is an offshore exploration block located in the southern Gulf of Suez. It covers an area of 68 square kilometres with water depth of up to 75 metres, and is surrounded by development leases.
Block 2 also contains the discovered West Ashrafi field, which is included in this award of concession, and may be developed with a production tie-in to the nearby existing onshore infrastructures. According to the company, two wells previously drilled in the West Ashrafi field had tested commercial oil and gas.
The award is subject to the execution of a definitive agreement. Gulf Hibiscus’ financial exposure to undertake the minimum work commitment is estimated to be approximately $8 million over the first 4 years (first exploration phase).
Hibiscus has said that the acceptance of the award of the concession, subject to the execution of a definitive agreement, provides the company an opportunity to explore and develop in an area which is one of the oldest producing basins in the world. The basin has more than 1,900 drilled wells with a total of 123 producing fields and an annual production of approximately 180 million barrels of oil.
Offshore Energy Today Staff
[mappress mapid=”2328″]