CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said it had signed an agreement with Genel Energy PLC to secure 49 percent working interest of the SL10B13 block in Somaliland.
OPIC Somaliland Corp (OSC) would explore the oilfield and all of OPIC’s capital investment would come from CPC, the Taiwanese firm said.
The state-run refiner declined to disclose financial terms, but CPC spokesman Chang Ray-chung (張瑞宗) said that this is the biggest oilfield exploration deal it has been part of in terms of prospective resources.
Photo courtesy of Genel Energy PLC
Under the agreement, OSC would receive a 49 percent working interest in the block for a cash consideration of 49 percent of all of Genel’s historic back costs, plus a cash premium.
Genel previously held a 100 percent working interest and would continue as the block’s operator.
The block has a lot of potential, as it has multiple stacked prospects with more than 5 billion barrels of prospective resources identified in a 2D seismic data acquisition that was completed in January 2018, Genel said in a statement.
“Somaliland is a highly prospective and largely unexplored region, with a compelling technical case for the drilling of a well,” Genel technical director Mike Adams said in the statement. “Oil seeps confirm a working petroleum system and one prospect alone could target over half a billion barrels across multiple stacked reservoirs.”
The field partners would work together to plan exploration drilling, with an aim to drill a well in 2023, the statement said.
A well can be drilled for an estimated gross cost of about US$40 million.
The SL10B13 area is about 150km from a port at Berbera, offering a route to international markets.
The agreement has been approved by the government of Somaliland.
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