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MEOG PERFORMANCE MEOG

Tethys provides half-year update

OMAN OMAN-FOCUSED Swedish firm Tethys Oil in Block 58.
provided a second quarter and half year update As reported by Middle East Oil & Gas in early
this week, following its recent award of Block 58 July, the concession area is in the Dhofar Gov-
in an Omani licensing round. ernorate of south-west Oman, adjacent to the
From Omani Blocks 3 and 4, the company Tethys-operated Block 49.
produced 10,597 barrels per day during Q2, The company will operate and hold a 100%
down from 13,032 bpd during Q1 and from interest in Block 58 via its wholly owned subsid-
12,881 bpd during 2Q2019. iary Tethys Oil Qatbeet.
Despite the relatively small reduction in pro- Tethys also holds stakes in Blocks 3 & 4 (30%),
duction, Tethys swung from a $12.1mn profit in 49 (100%) and 56 (20%).
Q1 to a loss of $3.9mn in Q2 following a $28.8 Block 58 covers an area of 4,557 square km,
per barrel drop in average selling price. spanning the western flank of the South Oman
The company has also been impacted by the Salt Basin and the Western Deformation Front.
restrictions imposed by OPEC+ cuts, noting “Oil Tethys has acquired 7,600 km of 2-D seismic
production in Oman is, since May 2020, subject 1,100 square km of 3-D seismic data which was
to production limitations under the OPEC+ shot by previous operators, as well as raw logs
agreement and production from Blocks 3&4 is and well reports from two wells drilled within
subject to the limitations.” the block boundaries.
The company added that it had suspended its Nordin said that Block 58 “holds some very
financial guidance following the introduction of interesting geological features that hopefully
these limitations. will translate into oil fields in the not too distant
Of the company’s position, Managing Direc- future. Other parts of our cash will go to drill
tor Magnus Nordin said: “Even after a distribu- an exploration well on Block 49. We are in final
tion of over $17mn to our shareholders during negotiations with several rig contractors and are
the quarter, our balance sheet remains strong confident we will drill before the end of the year.”
with $60mn of cash”, adding that some of the cash Meanwhile, the company has begun planning
would be used for exploration efforts including for a potential seismic campaign at Block 56.™

Week 32 12•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7