United Kingdom-based oil and gas company Afren said it had completed a farm-out agreement with Lekoil, in respect of a 17.14 percent participating interest in the Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 310 located offshore Nigeria.
Under the terms of the farm out, Afren will receive a total carry of up to $50 million in respect of an exploration well currently being drilled at the Ogo Prospect and a planned side-track well.
Optimum Petroleum Development, an indigenous company and the operator on the block, will continue to hold a 60 percent participating interest, with Afren providing technical assistance in respect of Optimum’s obligations under a Technical Assistance Agreement.
Osman Shahenshah, chief executive, Afren, said in a statement on Tuesday: “We are delighted to have successfully concluded a farm-out on OPL 310, offshore Nigeria and welcome Lekoil as a Partner in exploring the significant potential of this under-explored region of the West African Transform Margin.”
Optimum had on April 23 spudded the Ogo prospect on OPL 310 using the Transocean jack-up GSF Monitor, junior block partner, Afren said.
The drilling programme is expected to last 90 day with a planned side-track.
The first exploration well to be drilled by the partners is on the Ogo prospect, which is a four-way dip-closed structure in the Turonian to Albian sandstone reservoirs. The target at the prospect is 78 million barrels of oil equivalent of gross P50 prospective resources.
Drilling is set to take 90 days with one side-track planned.
“Extending from the shallow water continental shelf to deep water, the block represents an exploration opportunity in an under-explored basin with a proven working hydrocarbon system in close proximity to the Tano Basin,” Afren said.
“Detailed evaluation of the block has identified several prospects lying in the same Turonian, Cenomanian and Albian sandstone intervals that have yielded significant discoveries in Ghana and Ivory Coast.”
Optimum has a 60 percent participating interest and a 30 percent economic interest in the block with the percentages for Afren being 22.86 percent and 40 percent, respectively, and for Lekoil 17.14 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
FEMI ASU
