Ophir Energy, a company developing the Fortuna FLNG project in the Block R, offshore Equatorial Guinea, is expanding its foothold in the West African country.
The company has this week signed a new production sharing agreement for Block EG-24 offshore Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea.
According to the Equatorial Guinea authorities, the block EG-24 is one of 20 exploration areas marketed during the EG Ronda 2016 licensing round and is located to the west of producing fields Ceiba and Okume, covering 3,537 square kilometers.
Ophir Energy will operate the block and have an 80-percent interest. GEPetrol will have a 20 percent stake, with the option to increase this by another 10 percent if a commercial discovery is made. 2D and 3D seismic data cover large areas of the block.
Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said: “Ophir Energy is already an innovative and committed investor in Equatorial Guinea through Block R and the Fortuna FLNG project. We are delighted to welcome our partners to explore Block EG-24, which shows amazing signs of yielding enormous oil and gas reserves. This new deal is a vote of confidence in the oil and gas sector in Equatorial Guinea and the result of a very well received global licensing round for a country like ours that has a drilling success rate above worldwide average. I look forward to Ophir’s next drilling campaign and a possible discovery.”
The Block EG-24 PSC is based on Equatorial Guinea’s model PSC and mandates an initial exploration period of two sub-periods of two years each, plus two extensions of one year each. During the exploration period Ophir will purchase and process existing seismic data and acquire and interpret 3,000 square kilometers of new 3D data. The PSC then specifies a development and production period, if a commercial discovery is made, of 25 years with one five-year extension.
As previously said, London Stock Exchange-listed Ophir Energy is working to bring online the Fortuna FLNG project, expected to be Africa’s first deepwater floating liquefied natural gas project.
The company has so far awarded upstream and midstream construction contracts for the project, and is expected to reach the Final Investment Decision before the end of 2017.