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AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

UPSTREAM commercial and technical decisions regarding and security standards in force in the national
the next steps associated with our licence. oil sector.
PetroNor reaches enhances the value of our business by some NOC, September 22 2020
“The re-award of this licence instantly
agreement for the margin and provides PetroNor with optionality SERVICES
with regards to value realisation. We thank the
reinstatement of the A4 Government of The Gambia for their pragmatic PGS announces availability
engagement in reaching this agreement and look
licence offshore Gambia forward to working closely with them as we seek
to progress this licence for the benefit of The
PetroNor has reached a mutual agreement with Gambia, its people and of course PetroNor and of reprocessed 3D data for
the Government of The Gambia to settle its Arbi- its shareholders.” West Niger Delta
tration related to the A1 and A4 licences. PetroNor, September 21 2020
Under the terms of the settlement agree- More than 3,500 sq km of new PGS broadband
ment, PetroNor will regain the A4 licence and reprocessed MultiClient data is now availa-
sign a 30-year lease under new terms. Further, MIDSTREAM ble in the West Niger Delta Basin, providing a
PetroNor will relinquish any claims related to A1 clearer image of potential targets in blocks OPL
licence that has subsequently been awarded to a Libya’s NOC reports on 248, 249, 250, 2011, and OML 140. This newly
major oil company. reprocessed dataset targets the West Niger Delta
The terms of the new licence are based on the lifting of force majeure Basin and covers two main structural provinces
newly developed Petroleum, Exploration and directly linked to the gravity-driven movement
Production Licence Agreement (PEPLA) model. on Zueitina port of the Akata Shale Formation.
PetroNor will be able to carry the Prior Sunk cost The east of the survey, situated in the inner
associated with A4 into the new agreement for During the past two days, we conducted a secu- fold and thrust belt, is dominated by shale dia-
tax breaks and enhanced commercial model. rity assessment of Zueitina port and Zueitina pirism, rollover anticlines and closely spaced
Commenting on the update, Eyas Alho- Oil Co. fields. The assessment was positive and thrust faults. The west of the survey is located in
mouz, Chairman of PetroNor E&P, said: “This it concluded that there is a significant improve- the transitional detachment fold zone and con-
is undoubtedly a good outcome for all parties, ment in the security situation that allows tains subtle faulting along with low wavelength
as it removes a lot of uncertainty and potential National Oil Corp. (NOC) to resume production folding of Eocene to Quaternary stratigraphy.
further cost exposure to what was a highly com- and exports to global markets. The Niger Delta Basin formed during the
plex situation. The outcome is certainly one that Accordingly, NOC announces the lifting Late Cretaceous and is dominated by up to 12
we believe is in the best interest of the Company of force majeure as of today, Tuesday, Septem- km of Late Cretaceous to Quaternary aged clas-
and its shareholders, and one that we have been ber 22, 2020, and the operator of Zueitina Oil tics deposited in an upward-coarsening regres-
driving hard to achieve for over a year. Co. has been instructed to initiate production sive deltaic sequence. The main source rocks
“This settlement results in PetroNor regain- arrangements. are Akata Formation marine shales and Lower
ing 100% interest in a highly prospective Block It is worth noting that Zueitina Oil Co. is the Agbada Formation paralic shales.
in one of the most exciting hydrocarbon basins main supplier of LPG and also an important Proven reservoirs in the basin are dominated
in the world. The terms of the new licence are source for the coastline system, which enables by unconsolidated sandstones of the Agbada
significantly more attractive and will enhance the rest of the operators to supply the North Formation deposited as stacked turbidite chan-
not only the value of the licence but also its Benghazi and Zueitina power plants with gas, nel and fan complexes (Tuttle et al., 1999). The
attractiveness to potential partners. which alleviates the suffering of the people in largest accumulations are trapped in roll-over
“Importantly, we have a year to decide if the greater city of Benghazi and its suburbs and anticlines in the hanging-walls of growth faults
we wish to proceed with the lease agreement, provides clean and regular natural gas. The ports but hydrocarbons may also be found in fault clo-
and we would expect to have seen drilling on of Hariga, Brega and Zueitina are therefore clas- sures and subtle stratigraphic traps.
the adjacent A1 licence during this timeframe sified as safe ports. The remaining oil fields and Enhanced imaging of targets is achieved
which will mean we are far better placed to make ports are being evaluated according to the safety with clearer illumination of complex structures
associated with the diapiric movement of the
Akata Shale Formation. Optimised denoising
algorithms and a full deghosting sequence have
improved data bandwidth and the signal-to-
noise ratio. A multiple attenuation sequence
eliminated complex multiples leading to an over-
all improvement in image integrity.
Imaging of potential reservoir targets in Mio-
cene stacked-turbidite channel complexes is sig-
nificantly improved by broadband reprocessing.
Compare vintage data from 1999 (before) with
broadband reprocessed data from 2020 (after).
New data also offers clearer imaging of faulting
related to the diapiric movement of the Akata
Shale Formation.
PGS, September 18 2020

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