Oil & Gas Corporate News
Circle Oil (LON:COP) Plc (BUY, £0.90) (COP, 31.25p, ? 0.40%) announced the commencement of surveying work and mobilisation for the new seismic acquisition campaign within its permits in the Rharb Basin, Morocco. The campaign is scheduled to acquire a further 120 square kilometres of 3D data as well as 24 full fold line kilometres of 2D and is expected to last 4-5 months. The data will be subsequently processed and interpreted for use in the identification and prioritisation of drilling targets for the third drilling campaign presently scheduled to commence in early 2012. The Company also announced the appointment of Dr. Mohamed El Mostaine as Operations Manager for Circle Oil Maroc Ltd. Dr. El Mostaine holds a Doctorate in Geology and Petroleum Geology Engineering from the French Institute of Petroleum. He joined the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) in 1981. From 2006 until taking up his position with Circle, Dr. El Mostaine was Director of Exploration Petroleum for ONHYM. Dr. El Mostaine will initially manage the new seismic acquisition campaign and contribute to both the planning and technical studies to be produced in preparation for the third drilling campaign in the Rharb Basin.
Gold Oil (LON:GOO) (GOO, 3.45p, ? 0.58%) provided an operational update for its Block Z34, offshore Peru. Gold Oil has signed a Letter of Intent with BGP Geoexplorer PTE Ltd with regard to the acquisition of a marine 3D seismic survey over Block Z34 offshore Peru. The survey is for a total of 500 km2 over the southern part of the licence area. As previously announced, the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines has recently approved the environmental permit (PMA) covering Block Z34 for shooting a maximum of 808 km2 of 3D seismic offshore. This initial survey comprises the first phase of 3D seismic over the licence and a further (approx. 1,100 km2) will be required to evaluate the northern area of this large and prospective block. The vessel, the "BGP Pioneer", is currently alongside Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and will mobilise shortly to the operations area. Steaming time to Peru will be approximately 20 days and it is expected, therefore, that the vessel will commence operations, after local clearances, around early July 2011. Total acquisition time is expected to be approximately 30 days from commencement of…
