23rd Jan 2014 10:19
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sterling Energy PLC Thursday said the force majeure forcing operations at the Ntem Concession, offshore Cameroon, to be held off since 2005 has now been lifted.
The oil and gas exploration and production company said following discussions between the joint venture partners at the site - Sterling and Murphy Cameroon Ntem Oil Co Ltd, along with the Societe Nationale Des Hydrocarbures, the national oil company of Cameroon - the force majeure was lifted to allow exploration activities to proceed.
The site has been forcefully closed since 2005 as a result of a border dispute between the Republic of Cameroon and the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
The company said the current exploration period started on Wednesday with a minimum work obligation of one exploration well in the next 15 months.
Sterling said its first exploration well at the site, the Bamboo #1 well is outside the disputed area subject to maritime border claims of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
The Ntem concession is an offshore undrilled block in the highly prospective Douala - Rio Muni basin where in 2011 Sterling and Murphy signed a joint venture agreement, with Sterling taking a 50% non-operated working interest.
As part of the original deal, Murphy will pay Sterling's share of the costs for drilling the first well at the site.
The company estimates that the primary objective at the site may contain mean un-risked, gross prospective resources of 422 million barrels of oil and 170 billion cubic feet of gas, a total of some 450 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The Bamboo #1 well is expected to go into test production in February 2014.
Sterling Energy shares were up 19% to 50.00 pence, putting it in the top five AIM movers Thursday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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