Oil & Gas Corporate News
Bowleven (LON:BLVN) plc (UNDER REVIEW) (BLVN, 102.00p, ? 2.0%) announced its preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2011. Highlights: Successful multi-well exploration and appraisal drilling campaign carried out on the Etinde Permit in the period; Group cash balance at 30 June 2011 $96.6 million, no debt; Group cash balance at 31 October 2011 approximately $15 million; excludes $35 million EOV proceeds pending; Placing proceeds of approximately $124 million (gross) raised; conditional upon shareholder approval on 7 November 2011; Fully funded post placing/EOV proceeds for proposed drilling programme on Etinde; The two key Group objectives remain the exploration of the Douala Basin and the conversion of resources to reserves; A multi-well drilling programme comprising up to three appraisal and one exploration well offshore on the Etinde Permit and one exploration well on the onshore Bomono Permit are planned for 2012 in Cameroon; and development activities will focus on pre-FEED work for a 'hub and spoke' development concept across the Etinde Permit, with processing facilities based onshore at Limbe.
Serica Energy (LON:SQZ) plc (SQZ, 19.75p, ? 9.72%) confirmed the announcement made yesterday by the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy at the 18th Africa Upstream Conference being held in Cape Town that Serica has been awarded an 85% interest in a Petroleum Agreement covering four large blocks and part blocks in the prospective Luderitz Basin, offshore Namibia. The Luderitz Basin is one of three under-explored sedimentary basins lying south of the Walvis Ridge offshore Namibia. The Licence Award comprises Blocks 2512A, 2513A, 2513B and 2612A (part) in the centre of the basin and covers an area of approximately 17,400 square kilometres. Existing seismic data demonstrates the existence of large four-way dip closed structures lying wholly in the undrilled deep water parts of the Licence Area together with the potential for sizable trapping mechanisms in stratigraphic pinch outs towards the shelf margin. During the initial four-year exploration period of the Licence Serica will conduct an extensive 3D seismic survey and undertake reprocessing of existing 2D seismic data. Whilst Serica will evaluate opportunities to bring forward early drilling of the large prospects already identified it is expected that the first well in the Licence will be drilled in the third or fourth year of the initial period.
