Ophir’s exploration license expired in December 2018, and the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea confirmed that the company will not be granted an extension to the joint production contract. By now the block has been returned to the state.
Alan Booth, Ophir’s interim chief executive said that the company now is in negotiations “to rationalize parts of our frontier exploration portfolio with the potential to not only bring in cash, but also importantly reduce our future exploration capital commitments and further improve our liquidity position.” He noticed, “We remain mindful of the potential value of our gas assets in Tanzania, notwithstanding the uncertainty over timing for their development.”
Ophir Energy PLC has been an operator of Block R since 2008. The block includes Fortuna and Lykos discoveries. Block R covers an area of approximately 2,450km² in Distal Niger Delta, approximately 140km off the coast of Bioko Island, in water depths ranging from 600m to 1,950m., and contains six commercial discoveries. Fortuna field is estimated to hold 1.3 tcf of the block’s estimated 3.4 tcf of recoverable gas reserves. The company planned to install a floating liquefied natural gas plant, named Fortuna FLNG that has emerged as a template for developing offshore gas in a well-supplied global gas market.
Deepwater exploration and production, cost efficiency and asset integrity, new projects and offshore pipelines in Africa and Mediterranean will be discussed in Thessaloniki, Greece on 16-17 September at Exploration and Production Offshore Congress Hub EPOCH 2019. The Congress will gather the representatives of oil companies, governmental bodies, equipment manufacturers, drilling and EPC contractors.
Source: OGJ.com
