Page 6 - AfrOil Week 03 2020

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FAR secures $300mn credit
to cover its share of Sangomar costs
SENEGAL
AUSTRALIA’S FAR has secured funding to cover its share of development costs at San- gomar, an oil-bearing block located offshore Senegal. In a statement dated January 20, the company reported that it had arranged to bor- row the sum of $300mn from BNP Paribas (France), Glencore (UK-Switzerland) and Mac- quarie Bank (Australia). Each party will contrib- ute $100mn, it said.
The lenders have already approved the senior secured reserve-based credit facility, it said. The loan will have a term of seven years, including a four-year grace period, and will carry an interest rate of LIBOR + 7.75%.
FAR had said earlier this month that BNP Paribas, Glencore and Macquarie Bank had already agreed to offer a credit package worth $200mn for the Sangomar project. It also said it was negotiating with the lenders in the hope of increasing the size of the loan to $300mn.
The development of Sangomar is likely to cost about $4.2bn, and the Australian com- pany has estimated its share of the expenses at $492mn. The loan will cover most of that sum, and FAR has already raised another A$146mn ($99.96mn) through the issuance of a condi- tional placement of shares with institutional and high-net worth investors in December 2019. It is also launching a share purchase plan for existing shareholders that will allow it to raise another A$30mn ($20.54mn).
The announcement from FAR came just a few days after Woodside Petroleum, the Aus- tralian company that serves as operator of the project, instructed its contractors to move for- ward with drilling, installation and subsea con- struction work. It also followed closely on the heels of news that the partners had made a final investment decision (FID) on the project.
The Sangomar block encompasses three sep- arate fields – Rufisque, Sangomar Offshore and Sangomar Deep Offshore – that give the RSSD
joint venture its names. The partners discovered oil there in 2014 and have determined that the block contains an estimated 645mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in recoverable reserves. This figure includes 485mn barrels of crude oil and 160mn boe of natural gas.
Woodside and FAR have set up a joint ven- ture known as RSSD with PetroSen, the national oil company (NOC) of Senegal, and Cairn Energy, another Australian firm. Equity in the venture is divided between Woodside, with 35%; Cairn Energy, with 40%; FAR, with 15%, and PetroSen, with 10%.
RSSD’s members are currently involved in a lawsuit over the division of equity in the pro- ject. They are awaiting the results of arbitration over the dispute, which relates to the decision by the US company ConocoPhillips to transfer its 35% stake in and operatorship of the project to Woodside in 2016. FAR has complained that it was not allowed to pre-empt the sale.™
The Sangomar block includes three offshore fields (Image: Woodside Petroleum)
Angola auctions off Namibe basin blocks
ANGOLA
ANGOLA’S government has wrapped up its 2019 licensing round. Last week, officials in Luanda reported that the National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) had chosen a winner in auctions for three of the 10 blocks involved in the bidding.
In a statement, ANPG said that it had made a selection among bidders for Blocks 27, 28 and 29 in the Namibe Basin.
The national oil company (NOC) Sonan-
gol will take minority stakes in all three sites, it reported. 
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 03 22•January•2020