Chinese Firms Could Buy into African Petroleum

West African acreage holder African Petroleum is in talks with two firms interested in acquiring a stake in the company. The Australian firm is talking to two Chinese companies that would like to acquire a 10% stake, a person familiar with the matter told Deal Journal Australia.

African Petroleum holds stakes in Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and if it manages to sell off a 10% stake it could net several hundreds of millions of dollars that could be used to fund the development of the company’s assets. It has already made a discovery in Liberia with the drilling of the Narnia-1 well.

The Narnia-1 encountered a total of 105 ft of net oil pay in two zones – 69 ft in the Turonian and 36 ft in the Albian. African Petroleum said that the oil found in both reservoirs was of good quality, 37° API and 44° API in the Turonian and Albian reservoirs, respectively.