Ophir Energy plc (Ophir) announces that it has entered into an agreement with subsidiaries of Noble Energy, Inc. (Noble) and Rocksource ASA (Rocksource) concerning Ophir’s interests in the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) covering the AGC Profond block in the offshore territory jointly administered by Senegal and Guinea Bissau.
Under the terms of the agreement Noble will acquire a 17.5% interest from Ophir and a 12.5% interest from Rocksource. Noble will satisfy various Rocksource obligations pursuant to a previous agreement with Ophir. In addition Noble will make a promoted contribution towards the drilling costs of the Kora-1 deepwater exploration well and forward joint venture expenditure.
After completion of the Kora-1 well, if Noble elects to remain a party to the PSC, it will continue to make a promoted contribution towards Ophir’s costs of drilling a second well, in addition to satisfying a portion of Rocksource’s obligation to Ophir pursuant to a previous agreement.
Noble will in addition make a further promoted contribution towards the cost of any future appraisal activity and will have the right to be appointed as Technical Operator for any second well, and as full Operator on the submission of application for an appraisal area under the AGC Profond PSC.
The semi-submersible rig “Maersk Deliverer” has been contracted to drill the Kora Prospect in AGC Profond. The Kora prospect is a salt-cored dip-closed anticline, located outboard of the Dome Flore heavy oil field, in 2,600m of water with multiple prospective reservoir horizons. The rig is due to arrive on location towards the end of June and the Kora-1 exploration well will be operated by Ophir.
David L. Stover, Noble Energy’s President and COO, commented
“We are pleased to be adding this new exploration area to the portfolio. Offshore West Africa is a region where the industry has had numerous recent exploration successes, including our own offshore Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. The AGC Profond block is an area that has not previously been explored and we believe it has significant oil potential. Our new ventures team did a great job of capturing this opportunity for Noble Energy, expanding our already large exploration inventory.”
[mappress] Source:Ophir Energy , June 8, 2011