Welcome to Exploration News. If you’re not already on the list, please subscribe to the newsletter below.
Catching up on last week’s more interesting news, Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG) announced that it and JV partner, NEO Energy, have executed agreements to acquire the Western Isles floating production, storage and offloading vessel, which is to be used as the processing facility for the planned redevelopment of the Buchan field. JOG will now receive a $9.4 million cash payment from NEO under the terms of the farm-out transaction, as the milestone payment in respect of finalisation of the Greater Buchan Area development solution. Work is now progressing at pace on front-end engineering and design activities in order to facilitate field development plan approval in 2024. Further to the farm-out transaction, Jersey has a 50% working interest in the Greater Buchan Area licences and is being fully carried for its 50% share of the estimated $25 million cost to take the Buchan field through to field development plan approval. The company is also carried for 12.5% of the Buchan field re-development costs. Next, JOG aims to farm-out a further interest in the Greater Buchan Area licences to ultimately retain a fully carried 20-25% interest in the Buchan re-development.
88 Energy (88E) announced the execution of a three stage farm-in agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monitor Exploration to earn up to a 45% non-operated working interest in onshore Petroleum Exploration Licence 93, located in the Owambo Basin, Namibia. The agreement provides a staged entry into a 18,500 sq km acreage position and the licence is said to include an extensive lead portfolio, with ten significant independent structural closures identified from a range of geophysical and geochemical techniques. The forward programme includes acquisition of ~200 km of 2D seismic planned for mid-2024 and a potential initial exploration well targeting the Damara play not earlier than H2 2025. The bulk of the first stage payments are being made in 88E shares.
Pantheon Resources (PANR) announced a placement of approximately $4.15 million at $0.255 per share, equivalent to 20.8p per share, to long term investors to increase the company's cash resources, allowing it to pay the December and March convertible bond payments in cash. David Hobbs, Executive Chairman, is contributing $250,000 of this sum. Pantheon also updated regarding the proposed US listing. Tax advisors have confirmed that there is no significant impediment for the company adding a US listing or re-listing the Company in the US, therefore, PANR is beginning a programme of transition (restructuring and implementing controls and governance processes to become Sarbanes-Oxley compliant) which is targeted to be completed by the first half of 2025. Important now is serious financing: estimated costs to first production are conservatively estimated at $120 million.
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO) announced receipt of Government approval for operatorship and acquisition of an additional 60% interest in the Orinduik Block, offshore Guyana. Eco now holds an aggregate 75% interest. The company is seeking what it describes as qualified partners in a high-value play and has commenced a formal farm-out process for the block. It says that recent interest from supermajors and other well capitalized energy companies in the latest licencing bid round in Guyana for blocks up dip, supports its thesis of the oil migration and the high quality and charged reservoirs it sees on its block.
Corcel (CRCL) announced that the Tobias-14 well has now spudded. This follows the positive initial results of Tobias-13, where the full Binga reservoir section (~120m) was encountered in the well, with the results confirming the ability to reactivate production through an early production system and implying significant hydrocarbon potential remaining. Drilling of Tobias-14 is expected to last approximately 40-50 days. Corcel expects a broadly similar timeline to results as with Tobias-13 and says it looks forward to initial flow testing of this well once target depth has been reached. The company's estimate of unproduced contingent oil resources is 65 million barrels, with 11.7 million barrels net to CRCL.
Now on to some companies in which I’m investing.