Page 8 - AfrOil Week 24 2022

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

Wentworth sees the stake in Ruvuma as a good complement to its holdings in Mnazi Bay (Image: Wentworth)

Tom Reynolds, Scirocco’s CEO, told NewsBase JV going forward, and their existing profile in
that he expected the deal to benefit the com- Tanzania ensures lower deal execution risk and
pany in several important ways, describing it the best chance of a swift completion. The deal
as a transformative deal that followed lengthy enables the board to focus on the execution of
engagement with Wentworth and a two-year its stated strategy in the sustainable and circular
sales review process. economy space, with a significantly stronger bal-
“The deal with Wentworth represents the ance sheet and cash that can be deployed right
culmination lengthy engagement and a two- away to capitalise on the compelling opportu-
year sales review process. The deal enables Sci- nities that we have within the EAG JV’s deal
rocco to crystallise firm value from its natural pipeline.”
gas asset which can be deployed into compelling Ruvuma, an onshore licence area in southern
opportunities in line with the company’s strat- Tanzania, is operated by ARA Petroleum Tan-
egy to focus on opportunities within sustainable zania (APT), a subsidiary of ARA Petroleum of
energy and the circular economy,” he said. “Crit- Oman. APT’s contractor is currently collecting
ically, it provides the company with the funding 338 square km of 3D seismic data and hopes to
to meet the imminent cash calls associated with finish its work in the second half of 2022.
the work programme on the Ruvuma asset until The partners will then drill the Chikumbi-1
the deal completes, meaning we avoid the mate- exploration well in late 2022 or 2023 with the
rial dilution that would have been required in aim of determining the size of Ruvuma’s gas
the event we retained our interest in the project.” reserves. Ntorya, the largest field within the
Reynolds continued: “Wentworth are the block, has been estimated to contain 1.9 trillion
ideal counterparty that can add value to the cubic feet (53.81 bcm) of gas in place (GIP). ™

PERFORMANCE
Libya losing 1.1mn bpd of crude production

as a result of closures, oil minister says

LIBYA LIBYA’S Oil Minister Mohammed Oun has said Hamada field, the Mellitah complex and the par-
that continuous closures of oilfields and export tially operating Al-Wafa field.
terminals on the Mediterranean coast are cost- Meanwhile, two tankers have reportedly
ing the country 1.1mn barrels per day (bpd) in docked at Sidra and Brega to load gas conden-
production losses, The Libya Observer reported sate, following the suspension of operations at
earlier this week. two processing facilities in eastern Libya.
He was speaking amidst reports that oil pro- Oun said recently that the closure of Libya’s
duction across most of Libya’s main oilfields main oilfields and ports was costing the country
had been suspended, with the exceptions of the more than $60mn per day.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 15•June•2022