Continental Focus, International Reach

Ophir Expands Position in Equa G

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons, state-run GEPetrol, and Ophir Energy signed a new PSC for Block EG-24. The block is located offshore Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea.

Block EG-24, formerly Block EG-20 and Block M, is one of the 20 exploration areas the government offered up for auction in the EG Ronda 2016 licensing round. The block lies to the west of the Cieba and Okume producing fields.

Ophir Energy will operate the block and have an 80% interest. GEPetrol will have a 20% stake, with the option to increase this by another 10% in the event of a commercial discovery being made. A large area of the block is covered by 2D and 3D seismic data.

The Block EG-24 PSC is based on Equatorial Guinea’s model PSC and mandates an initial exploration period of two sub-periods of two years each, plus two extensions of one year each. During the exploration period Ophir will purchase and process existing seismic data and acquire and interpret 3,000 square kilometers of new 3D data. The PSC then specifies a development and production period, if a commercial discovery is made, of 25 years with one five-year extension.

Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said, “Ophir Energy is already an innovative and committed investor in Equatorial Guinea through Block R and the Fortuna FLNG project. We are delighted to welcome our partners to explore Block EG-24, which shows amazing signs of yielding enormous oil and gas reserves. This new deal is a vote of confidence in the oil and gas sector in Equatorial Guinea and the result of a very well received global licensing round for a country like ours that has a drilling success rate above worldwide average. I look forward to Ophir’s next drilling campaign and a possible discovery.”


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