Page 13 - AfrOil Week 08 2020

AfrOil
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrOil
UPSTREAM
Morocco: Predator
Oil & Gas exercises
Guercif rig option
Predator Oil & Gas, the Jersey-based oil and gas company, has provided an update on its drill- ing plans for the Guercif permits I, II, III and IV onshore Morocco. Predator (75%) operates Guercif in joint venture with the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM) act- ing on behalf of the state (25%).
Predator Gas Ventures, a wholly owned sub- sidiary of the Company, has exercised its pre- viously announced rig option with Star Valley Drilling, a Canadian drilling company currently undertaking an extensive drilling programme for SDX Energy in the Rharb Basin west of the Guercif using its Rig No. 101.
Rig mobilisation can occur within a window commencing March 15, 2020, and ending April 30, 2020, unless otherwise agreed by mutual con- sent of the parties.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Predator Oil & Gas Holdings, said: “The company is excited to be taking another major step towards executing its Guercif drilling plans by exercising our option to take up the drilling rig. The high proportion of commercial gas discoveries recently announced by SDX Energy in the geologically similar Rharb Basin demonstrates the attractiveness of the company’s investment case for the potentially larger drilling targets at Guercif. We look for- ward to updating the market on further progress as we enter a news-rich period.”
On February 14, Predator announced a successful placing to raise GBP3.56mn (before
expenses).
As a result, the company is now fully funded
for the drilling of the Moulouya well onshore Morocco.
According to information on the Predator website, Predator believes that the Moulouya prospect is drill-ready and warrants a fast- tracked approach to drilling in order to capitalise upon its attractive valuation metrics and the abil- ity to accelerate a gas development in the case of a gas discovery to exploit the current demand for gas in Morocco and, in a wider context, Europe. The Moulouya prospect lies just 9 km from the Maghreb gas pipeline, where significant spare capacity exists for the transport of gas either for domestic use or for export to the European Union.
Predator Oil & Gas, February 19 2020
Gabon: VAALCO Energy confirms oil discovery with South-East Etame 4P appraisal well
VAALCO Energy has announced that the South- East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore drilled from the VAALCO-operated South-East Etame North Tchibala (SEENT) platform offshore Gabon in the Etame Marin permit area successfully encountered oil sands in the Gamba formation.
The company has: verified the presence of Gamba oil sands in the step out area at South- East Etame; encountered approximately 20 feet (6.1 metres) of good-quality Gamba oil sands, with similar reservoir quality as exists in the South-East Etame 2H well; and drilled the South-East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore to a total
depth of 6,311 feet (1,924 metres).
VAALCO currently estimates gross prospec-
tive resources of 1-2mn barrels of oil, or 300,000- 500,000 barrels net revenue interest to VAALCO, present in this newly discovered step out area. Drilling did not encounter H2S in the reser- voir. Operations are underway to begin drilling the South-East Etame 4H development well based on this successful appraisal wellbore, and expected initial production rates are 1,200-2,500 gross bpd, or 325-675 bpd net revenue interest to VAALCO.
Cary Bounds, Chief Executive Officer, com- mented: “We are delighted by the continued success from our 2019/2020 drilling campaign, where we have now successfully confirmed additional resources from the two appraisal wellbores and brought two development wells online above predrill expectations. The South- East Etame 4P is an important appraisal wellbore and was drilled to further delineate our potential resource base at South-East Etame. This step-out discovery is accessing new prospective resources that should be converted to 2P reserves by year- end 2020 following the successful drilling of the South-East Etame 4H and further technical evaluation.
“The initial analysis shows that this new step out discovery has similar reservoir quality as the reservoir from which the South-East Etame 2H well is producing. These encouraging results allow us to move ahead with plans to drill the South-East Etame 4H development well.
“We believe that the 2019/2020 drilling cam- paign has been transformational for VAALCO and set us on the path to achieve our ambitious organic growth plans. The campaign overall has been hugely successful and in aggregate towards the upper end of our internal pre-drill expec- tations. We have significantly increased overall production with the Etame 9H and Etame 11H development wells that were recently drilled from the Etame platform.
“Both appraisal wellbores we drilled veri- fied the existence of additional hydrocarbon resources that can be converted to proved reserves over time. In addition, we added pro- duction from two recent wells at the Etame plat- form that were brought back online following a subsea repair on the Etame 4H well and a work- over on the Etame 10H well.
“We remain optimistic about our outlook for 2020 and believe that we are well positioned to face the headwinds caused by the recent down- ward pressure on oil prices. We continue to focus on the matters we can control and remain com- mitted to executing on our strategic plan which includes delivering positive operational results while simultaneously considering complemen- tary M&A opportunities, all with a view to gen- erating long-term value for our shareholders.” VAALCO Energy, February 19 2020
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