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Friday, December 10, 2021
Invictus Energy has executed a farm in option agreement with Cluff Energy Africa (CEA) for a two-well exploration drilling campaign in the Cabora Bassa Project of Zimbabwe. CEA will fund 33.33% of the costs for a 25% interest in the Cabora Bassa Project and Invictus will remain as operator.
Cluff Energy Africa is currently assembling a portfolio of African oil and gas exploration assets with the intent of raising further capital during early 2022 to fund their exploration programs. The Cluff group has previously raised and invested over half a billion dollars for natural resources projects.
Under the terms of the non-binding agreement, CEA must exercise the option by March 31, 2022 to enter into a binding Farm in Agreement and a Joint Operating Agreement and obtain the necessary funding to meet the Farm in Commitment for 2 wells. Invictus and CEA will also investigate the options for mitigating carbon emissions from the project including Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) or similar solutions to align with Zimbabwe’s strategic objectives.
Invictus Managing Director and CEO, Mr Scott Macmillan, said: “Invictus is pleased to enter into the option agreement with Cluff Energy Africa and work towards formalizing our relationship in the Cabora Bassa joint venture over the coming months. CEA is a like-minded partner and a close cultural fit, and their team has an outstanding track record of making and monetizing discoveries in Africa.
“We look forward to CEA completing their capital raise activities and participating in the exciting basin opening two-well drilling campaign including drilling the world class Muzarabani-1 well in the first half of next year. Invictus is incredibly well placed to achieve significant accretive milestones during 2022 with a number of key catalysts ahead of us.”
Cluff Energy Africa Chairman and CEO, Mr Algy Cluff OBE said: “Cluff Energy Africa is delighted to be joining Invictus in the Cabora Bassa project and we view this asset as a rare high-quality but low-cost opportunity that has world class scale. We believe it will form a key pillar in the portfolio of assets that we are currently assembling.
“I am also excited to be bringing the Cluff group back to Zimbabwe having enjoyed previous success in the resources sector in the country with the discovery and development of the largest gold mine in the country at Freda Rebecca.
“We look forward to working closely with Invictus over the coming months to finalize our partnership agreements and move forward with the exploration program.”
Invictus also confirmed that it has executed a MOU with EXALO Drilling to drill the Muzarabani-1 exploration well and an option for an additional exploration well for the basin opening drilling campaign in Zimbabwe scheduled to commence in May 2022.
Following extensive evaluation, a number of suitable rig options on both a technical and commercial basis the Company has selected the Exalo #202 Rig for the upcoming drilling program. A binding rig agreement is anticipated to be signed in the new year. Exalo personnel recently completed a visit to Zimbabwe to review the potential drilling locations and logistics options. The #202 Rig is currently engaged in drilling operations in Tanzania and will be mobilized to the project once that program has been completed.
The Company is currently processing and interpreting the recently acquired seismic data from the CB21 Seismic Survey campaign which concluded in early November with the aim of refining the Muzarabani-1 well location and design as well as maturing additional prospects to enable a 2 well back-to-back drilling program. Under the MOU the Company must exercise the option for the additional well by 15 February 2022. Given the encouraging early results of the seismic processing the Cabora Bassa partners are confident of identifying and maturing an additional prospect to commit to a 2 well drilling program.
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