19th Nov 2013 09:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Afren PLC and partner Lekoil Ltd. Tuesday said drilling results at the OPL310 site offshore Nigeria are almost four times higher than previous expectations.
The two junior oil and gas exploration and development companies said that the OPL310 site showed a gross recoverable P50 resource estimated at 774 million barrels of oil equivalent, almost four times more than their originally targeted 202 million barrels.
Afren holds a 22.86% participating interest and 40% economic interest at the site, while Lekoil holds a 17.14% participating interest and 30% economic interest.
The Ogo-1 well was drilled to a total measured depth of 10,518 feet and encountered a large hydrocarbon area spanning 524 foot with 216 foot of net stacked oil pay, while its side track reached a total depth of 17,987 feet and encountered hydrocarbon intervals in the same region.
Both companies said they intend to drill the OPL310 appraisal well in the second half of 2014, ahead of their original development plan, on the positive results.
Lekoil also announced that it has decided to terminate the binding conditional sale and purchase agreement with Pan Petroleum Aje Limited, Pan-Petroleum Nigeria Holding BV and Pan-Petroleum (Holding) Cyprus Limited for its OML113 site offshore Nigeria due to an inability to agree final terms.
Lekoil also said that the parties have the right to call a USD3 million bid bond entered into as part of the agreement, which the company will finance out of its cash reserves, allowing the company to focus on its discovery at OPL310.
In early trading Tuesday, Lekoil shares were up 22% to 60.45 pence, making them the leading AIM winner, while Afren shares were up 8.6% to 161.70 pence, making it the biggest FTSE 250 winner.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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