Azinam Limited, the Seacrest Capital-backed oil & gas exploration company, has entered in an agreement under which Africa Oil will acquire a 20% participating interest in Block 3B/4B Orange Basin, offshore South Africa.
Azinam said on Wednesday that the acquisition is subject to customary regulatory consents, following which Africa Oil will become the operator of Block 3B/4B.
Azinam will retain a 20% participating interest post completion and license partner Ricocure (Pty) Ltd’s participating interest will remain unchanged at 60%.
Block 3B/4B is located in the Deep Western Mid-Orange Basin South Africa, extending from circa 120 to 250 kilometers offshore. The block covers an area of 17,581 square kilometers and lies in water depths ranging from 300 to 2,500 meters.
Block 3B/4B sits at the center of an exciting emerging play, which is being explored by a number of international oil & gas companies.
According to Azinam, 3B/4B contains play types and prospects similar to those being targeted by majors in adjacent blocks. During the Initial License Period of three years Azinam, Africa Oil, and Ricocure will carry out a regional subsurface review of existing seismic, geological and engineering data and may reprocess parts of the existing 3D data in order to high-grade the exploration prospects on the Block.
Daniel McKeown , Managing Director of Azinam, commented: “Azinam is delighted to welcome Africa Oil Corp. to the Block 3B/4B partnership. This extensive block lies at the center of an exciting emerging exploration play which is being actively pursued by the international oil & gas industry. Partnering with Africa Oil on the Block 3B/4B brings extra resources, complementary experience and technical expertise to the Block’s Initial Period exploration program.
“Following the Brulpadda discovery earlier this year , momentum is building in the South Africa and Namibia exploration scenes, with several key wells to be drilled by industry in the coming year.
He added: “Azinam’s two-year objective is exploit current low drilling costs to unlock the prospectivity of these high-potential regions of the Orange, Walvis and Lüderitz basins by participating in a number of high-impact exploration wells.”
Keith Hill , Africa Oil’s President and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to add this block to our inventory of high-quality exploration opportunities in an area where several key wells will be drilled by industry in the coming year. To the north and along trend, both Total and Shell plan to drill potential play openers and at the same time are increasing their positions in other blocks adjacent to Block 3B/4B. From the large existing 3D survey, we see a number of prospects that are similar to those that the majors are targeting. This new position, combined with our other equity positions in Impact Oil and Gas and Africa Energy Corp., provides Africa Oil with a significant footprint in this exciting emerging play.”
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