The Minister of Petroleum Resources of Nigeria has granted Lekoil consent to complete the transfer of the original 17.14 percent participating interest in OPL 310, to its subsidiary Mayfair Assets and Trust Limited.
To remind, Mayfair farmed into Afren Oil & Gas’ interest in OPL 310, which contains the Ogo discovery, for a 17.14 percent participating and 30 percent economic interest in February 2013.
In July 2015, Afren Plc, the parent company of Afren Oil & Gas that held interests in the OPL 310 license, was put into administration and its assets were put up for sale. To protect its interests in the license, Lekoil started discussions with the administrator of Afren Plc for the potential acquisition of its subsidiary interests in OPL 310.
In late November 2015, Lekoil entered into an agreement with the administrator of Afren Plc and Afren Nigeria Holding to acquire the shares of Afren Oil & Gas which held a 22.86 percent participating interest in OPL 310 for a total consideration of $13 million. Lekoil subsequently applied for ministerial consent for this interest.
Lekoil said on Friday that its acquisition of Afren’s remaining 22.86 percent participating interest in OPL 310, through wholly owned subsidiary Lekoil 310 Limited, remains conditional upon receiving ministerial consent.
Lekan Akinyanmi , Lekoil’s CEO, said, “We are delighted to have received ministerial consent on our original 17.14 percent participating interest in OPL 310. This is an asset with tremendous potential, and I am delighted that we have achieved this significant milestone.”
The OPL 310 license is an upper Cretaceous play in the West African Transform Margin. Most of the prospects are in water depths of 100 to 800 meters, where in 2013 included the successful drilling of an exploration well (Ogo-1) and its planned sidetrack (Ogo-1 ST). The block extends from the shallow water continental shelf near the city of Lagos extending to the deep-water.
Offshore Energy Today Staff