15th Aug 2005 07:00
Afren PLC15 August 2005 Afren plc Afren signs agreement for participation in the development of the Ogedeh Field, offshore Nigeria. Afren PLC ("Afren"), an independent oil and gas company focused on establishingitself as the leading pan-African exploration and production company, announcesthe signature of a Financing and Production Sharing Agreement with Bicta Energy& Management Systems Limited ("Bicta") for participation in the development ofthe Ogedeh Field, offshore Nigeria ("Ogedeh"). Ogedeh is an undeveloped oil and gas field located in the shallow water offshoreNiger Delta region in Nigeria. It was discovered by Chevron in 1993 on OilMining Licence 90 ("OML 90") by the Ogedeh-1 well, which logged oil and gas in anumber of zones. The discovery well was not tested but a nearby well flowed over4,000 barrels oil per day of 49degrees API oil from two zones at levels similar to those in Ogedeh. Ogedeh is fully covered by 3D seismic and technical analysisindicates that the Ogedeh licence area holds hydrocarbon prospective resourceslikely to be in the range of 10 to 25 million barrels of oil, with gas reservesin the order of 25 BCF. Ogedeh is located offshore in 40ft of water,approximately 12kms from nearby production infrastructure which is linkeddirectly to the oil export terminal at Forcados. The field is a conventionalNiger delta structure, with oil and gas at shallow levels, and is likely to be alow cost development. Ogedeh was recently awarded to Bicta after a competitive tender under theNigerian Government's Marginal Field Allocation programme. The Financing andProduction Sharing Agreement signed between Afren and Bicta defines thecommercial terms under which Afren will participate with Bicta in thedevelopment of Ogedeh. Under the terms of this agreement, Afren will beresponsible for paying all costs for the development of the field, and will beable to recover those costs via an allocation of oil and gas produced from thefield. After all costs have been recovered, Afren and Bicta will share equallyin the production. Afren is currently investigating the market to contract a rig to drill its firstwell on Ogedeh, which will be tested. Future development plans would include afurther one or two wells, and a tie-back to nearby infrastructure. Afrenanticipates that successful development wells will produce at rates in excess of2,500 barrels per day. Brian O'Cathain, Chief Executive of Afren commented: "We are delighted to announce this first agreement to participate in thedevelopment of proven undeveloped fields in Nigeria which have the potential togenerate material early production and cashflow for Afren. We are in activenegotiation on a number of similar projects elsewhere in Nigeria, and we expectto have further announcements of progress in this area, and other deals in WestAfrica in the near future." 15 August 2005 Enquiries: AfrenBrian O'Cathain +44 20 7969 2760 Pelham Public RelationsJames Henderson [email protected] +44 020 7743 6673Alisdair Haythornthwaite [email protected] +44 020 7743 6676 Afren is an independent oil and gas exploration, development and productioncompany, established in 2004 to build an attractive, diversified and balancedportfolio of African assets, with an initial focus on the Gulf of Guinea region.Afren's corporate objective is "Capital appreciation for shareholders throughpreferential access to oil and gas production and exploration acreageacquisition, production growth, deal flow and exploration drilling in Africa" Notes to Editors: The Ogedeh Field is one of 24 proven oil and gas fields which were recentlyawarded to indigenous companies under the Nigerian Government's Marginal FieldAllocation programme. This programme forms part of the Government's efforts toencourage the development of the indigenous oil and gas industry in Nigeria. Amap showing the location of the Ogedeh field can be found on Afren's website atwww.afren.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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