Page 12 - AfrOil Week 43

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

The scope of the transaction includes Dana staff will take place upon execution and formal
Gas’ 100% working interests in the El Manzala, approval of the deeds of assignment for the var-
West El Manzala, West El Qantara and North ious concessions.
El Salhiya onshore concessions and associated Under the terms of the sale, the agreement
development leases. In the first half of 2020, entails a base cash consideration of $153mn,
these concessions produced 30,950 barrels of including the net working capital associated
oil equivalent per day (boepd), and contributed with the assets and before any closing adjust-
$38mn to the company’s bottom line, the com- ments, and contingent payments of up to $83mn
pany said on its website. subject to average Brent prices and production
Transfer of ownership, responsibilities and performance between 2020-2023. ™

Aminex, ARA finalise farm-out

deal for Ruvuma licence area

TANZANIA UK-BASED Aminex has finalised its Tanzanian 200 square km of 3D seismic data from the Nto-
farm-out deal with ARA Petroleum of Oman. rya area and the establishment of the additional
In a statement dated October 23, Aminex wells and infrastructure needed to bring the site’s
reported that its wholly owned subsidiary gross production up to approximately 140mn
Ndovu Resources had transferred a 50% stake in cubic feet (3.96mn cubic metres) per day.
the Ruvuma onshore block to ARA Petroleum “The full carry for Aminex’s share of costs up
Tanzania (APT), an affiliate of ARA. As a result to $35mn in respect of its 25% interest implies
of the transfer, APT, which now has a 75% stake, a potential expenditure during the carry period
will replace the Aminex subsidiary as operator of up to $105mn for the aggregate 75% working
of the project, the statement said. interest held by Aminex and APT,” the statement
Ndovu Resources will remain a minority explained.
stake of 25% in Ruvuma, which is being devel- It also quoted Robert Ambrose, the CEO of
oped under a production-sharing agreement Aminex, as saying: “We are delighted to finally
(PSA), it added. complete the farm-out and hand over operator-
According to the statement, ARA has paid ship of the Ruvuma PSA to APT. Aminex and
Aminex $5mn in cash for its stake and opera- Ndovu stand ready to provide all reasonable
torship. In turn, the latter company has used this assistance to APT to help them in this regard
cash consideration to pay off both the interest and beyond. We are also extremely grateful to
and principal owed for $5mn worth of cred- ARA Petroleum for its support over the past
its extended by the former over the last year. 12 months and look forward to the work pro-
“Accordingly, the security over the advance, the gramme progressing.”
loan and associated interest that was put in place The Ruvuma licence area is located in south-
by the company in favour of ARA will now be ern Tanzania, near the border with Mozam-
released and discharged,” Aminex said. bique. The partners have already discovered gas
More than half of the credits came from a at Ntorya, a field within the block that may hold
$3mn funding deal that the Omani company as much as 763bn cubic feet (21.607bn cubic
struck with Aminex in November 2019. ARA metres) in recoverable reserves. ™
agreed earlier this year not to demand repay-
ment of the principal of this loan, even though
the British company had already used $2.67mn
of the total. It also said it would not begin col-
lecting interest on the due date of July 1, 2020.
The remaining portion of the credits came
from a $2mn loan that ARA extended to cover
its partner’s tax obligations to Tanzania’s govern-
ment. Officials in Dodoma had requested that
Aminex pay capital gains tax in anticipation of
the transfer.
As a condition of the farm-out deal, ARA
has agreed to a full carry of Aminex’s share of
expenses for a minimum work programme at
the Ruvuma licence area. This minimum pro-
gramme will include the drilling and testing of
the Chikumbi-1 well, the acquisition of at least Ruvuma is home to the Ntorya gas field (Image: Aminex)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 43 28•October•2020