Africa Oil Corp. - World-Class East Africa Oil Exploration (Seite 248)

[gabbo62]

Kenya to penalise slow oil and gas explorers

01 Oct 2012
Kenya wants licensed oil and gas explorers to speed up their work to meet the terms of their contracts, and may invoke its right to cash in their guarantees if they fail to do so, a senior Ministry of Energy official said.

A squeeze in global capital markets has hurt independent firms' ability to raise money to drill exploratory wells, causing a handful of oil companies in Kenya to fall behind schedules they are contractually obliged to meet. The government's tough new stance could have major implications, pushing out smaller firms in favour of those with greater investment capacity.

'We just want them (explorers) to do their work. If they don't do the work we cash the bank guarantee,' Martin Heya, Kenya's petroleum commissioner, told Reuters. Bank guarantees are usually agreed when companies sign exploration contracts, specifying an amount of money payable to the government should they fail to meet their obligations. The government can also revoke licences.

Explorer Tullow Oil struck a promising oil find in the northern county of Turkana last March, heightening interest in the East African nation's natural resources. 'Now the interest that is there (in Kenya's resources) is so overwhelming. If you just sit on the block and do nothing we will take action,' Heya said.

John Malone, who studies the sub-Saharan African petroleum industry for New York-based Global Hunter Securities, said: 'The market has had no interest in taking any risk, it's made it harder for them to go to equity markets and raise money ... that's punished a lot of these smaller oil companies.'

Australian firm Lion Petroleum fell behind on its work commitments this year, causing the government to charge the company a $4 million fee to extend its contract by 12 months. Newly-formed Canadian company Taipan Resources said it was acquiring the firm in July. It raised $11.5 million to cover the fee and meet Lion's contractual obligations, including conducting surveys and drilling an exploratory well. Taipan Resources was unavailable for comment.

Other companies, such as Zarara Oil and Gas Resources, have also had difficulty meeting work schedules, according to the Ministry of Energy. Peter Worthington, head of Zarara's parent company Midway Resources, said the firm was unwilling to discuss the issue because of its contractual relationship with the government. Heya said Zarara was working to catch up and the ministry was not planning any immediate action against the company. He added that most other companies working in Kenya were on track to meet contract schedules.

http://www.energy-pedia.com/news/kenya/new-151876

[gimo211]

Hmmmmm.... Twiga leaks??

[niki550525]

Na, unser Baby nimmt Fahrt auf und keiner Merkt es :-)
8 € haben wir schon überschritten wenn in D jemand kaufen würde.
Weiss jemand etwas mehr darüber ?????
Niki

[motz1]

Ein äußerst interessanter Beitrag von Warnado1. Bei Interesse den absolut umfangreichen und ausführlichen Report mit geologischen Hintergründen zu Kenya (Link) beachten...

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Geela, the omission of any drilling timescales of Pai Pai is a wise move in my opinion given the significant over run encountered at Ngamia-1 where we saw 60 to 90 days turn into approx 160 days.

With Twiga-1, number of days were not specified but Mr Hill initially indicated results would be known by the "end of October" but it today's release they state "before the end of October". The appearance of the word "before" is noteworthy. This would indicate, in my opinion, drilling operations are going very well and in excess of my estimates of approx 30mtrs per day.

With Pai Pai we are using a much more powerful rig (Sakson PR5) and which has just finished its operations at Songo Songo in Tanzania. The article below describes it as "the most powerful land rig".

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/17080…

As you correctly point out much will "depend on what they are drilling through" and the link below opens a whole new can of worms given great detail of the Kenyan sedimentary basins if you can be bothered to digest it.

http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/53/41/81/PDF/These_T…

Below are a couple of links for you to compare the Sakson PR5 rig used at Pai Pai to the Weatherford 804 rig used at Twiga-1 and Ngamia-1.

http://www.saksonegypt.com/pages.php?id=29

(Click the more info link on the right of the page at scroll down to find the 804 rig)

http://www.weatherford.com/Products/Drilling/ContractDrillin…

Timescales can be thrown about all day long but we must take comfort in the fact the operations at Twiga-1 are seemingly going well and we are now underway with Pai Pai.

It a sit and patiently wait situation and I'm very happy with that.

[motz1]

Ziemlich optimistisch, der Herr Minister (siehe Hervorhebung unten)...

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Tullow Oil, partners start drilling third well in Kenya

Mon Oct 1, 2012 4:04am EDT

* The well, Paipai-1, has a planned total depth of 4,112 metres

* Searching for oil, rather than natural gas

* If successful, would be Tullow's second oil discovery in Kenya

By Kelly Gilblom

NAIROBI, Oct 1 (Reuters) - British explorer Tullow Oil Plc and its Canadian partner Africa Oil Corp started drilling a third well in Kenya, extending a campaign to discover more reserves after finding oil in the east African country earlier this year.

Drilling of the well, known as Paipai-1 and located in northern Kenya's Marsabit County, started on Saturday. Its planned total depth is 4,112 metres and it could have as many as 121 million barrels of crude oil, Africa Oil said. Tullow hopes the well will encounter oil, rather than gas.

"A discovery at Paipai would extend the producing plays of Sudan into Kenya and open a potentially significant and new petroleum province within Kenya," Keith Hill, Africa Oil's chief executive, said in a statement.

East Africa has become a hotbed of exploration after several petroleum discoveries in the area pushed the region into the international limelight. However, Kenya has yet to determine whether it has commercially viable quantities of hydrocarbons.

Paipai-1 on onshore Block 10A is a joint venture of Tullow, the well operator with 50 percent of the exploration license, Africa Oil, holding 30 percent, and London-listed Afren, with the remaining 20 percent.

Tullow is already drilling one other well in Kenya, known as Twiga-1, on Block 13T, about 30 kilometres west of where it made its oil discovery in March. Hill said the results of this well are expected before the end of October.

The British company also was a venture partner in the offshore well, Mbawa-1, that encountered gas. However, Mbawa's operator Apache Corp said it had hoped to find oil and there was insufficient gas to justify costly investments in liquefied natural gas facilities and pipelines.

If Tullow finds oil for a second time in Kenya, it may spur investment in infrastructure projects, such as a refinery and pipeline to its coastal ports.

Kenya's energy minister Kiraitu Murungi said he thought the country had enough petroleum to warrant both projects.

"We are becoming the new Middle East," Murungi said at a press conference in August.

Tullow indicated it would be at least a year before it knows whether its March discovery can be extracted and exported.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/01/kenya-exploration-…

[motz1]

Oct 1, 2012 - 02:25 ET Africa Oil Corp.:

Paipai-1 Exploration Well Spuds in Onshore Kenya

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 1, 2012) - Africa Oil Corp. (TSX VENTURE:AOI)(OMX:AOI) ("Africa Oil" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the spudding in Kenya of the Paipai-1 exploration well located in onshore Block 10A, on September 29, 2012. The well is planned to drill to a total depth of 4,112 meters and will test Cretaceous and Jurassic sandstone targets. The well is operated by Tullow Oil plc ("Tullow") who hold a 50% working interest. Africa Oil holds a 30% working interest in the Block. The Paipai-1 will be drilled using the Sakson PR-5 rig and is targeting gross best estimated prospective resources of 121 million barrels by the Company's independent resource evaluator.

Elsewhere in Kenya the Company and its partner Tullow continue drilling operations at the Twiga South-1 well site located in Lokichar sub-basin onshore Block 13T and results of this well are expected before the end of October. In onshore Ethiopia, Tullow are finalizing plans to mobilize the OGEC-75 rig for the exploration drilling campaign that is planned to commence with the Sabisa-1 well in the South Omo Block near the end of this year.

Keith Hill, President and CEO of Africa Oil, commented, "The Paipai well will test Cretaceous and Jurassic targets in the Anza graben, whose geologic history is comparable and on trend with producing basins of Sudan. Paipai-1 will test a large structural trap in what is considered to be an oil-prone area of the Anza basin. Legacy wells have encountered significant oil and gas shows, but newly acquired seismic surveys have helped improve mapping and identify the Paipai prospect as a favorable and potentially high-impact exploration target. A discovery at Paipai would extend the producing plays of Sudan into Kenya and open a potentially significant and new petroleum province within Kenya where the Company is already implementing an accelerated exploration program after the Ngamia-1 discovery in the Tertiary Rift Play earlier in the year. With plans in place for three drilling rigs to be operational before the end of the year, the Company is entering an exciting period of activity with multiple high impact exploration targets expected to be drilled before the end of 2013."
[...]

http://africaoilcorp.mwnewsroom.com/press-releases/africa-oi…

[motz1]

@niki: Vielen Dank für deine technische Betrachtung, die ist immer interessant und beleuchtet Facetten, die sonst gerne zu kurz kommen.

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Was sich mir nicht ganz erschließt ist Investec. Ich verstehe, dass PaiPai nicht die gleiche acreage-position de-risked wie Ngamia, aber Block 9 ist erstens riesig und zweitens zu 50% in AOI-Besitz. Und das Rift erstreckt sich über weitere Blöcke. Da kann schon eine ordentliche Wirkung auf die Market-Cap davon ausgehen imho.
Wollte KH deren Geld nicht?

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Investec Securities, the specialist brokerage and bank, has deemed Africa Oil, Afren plc, and Tullow Oil’s Pai Pai well in Kenya as the well to watch. The well is set to spud shortly with results possible as soon as the end of October.

Pai Pai is on a separate geological play (Cretaceous) to the partners’ Ngamia discovery on Block 10A. Investec said the well is “high risk” with a 10% chance of success. It also noted that the well has limited “follow-on” potential which contrasts significantly with Ngamia. The well will test a Cretaceous rift system with analogues to South Sudan’s oil fields. The primary geological risk appears to be trap integrity, with three dry holes (Bellatrix-1, Sirius-1 & Chalbi-3) drilled by Amoco in the late 1980s encountering sequences of sandstones with oil and/or gas shows. In 2011, 1,500 sq km of 2D seismic was acquired which has been used to map a around 80 sq km lower Cretaceous sandstone anticlinal trap.

On the size of the prospect Investec cited Africa Oil’s recent competent person's report (CPR) saying it carries the prospect at 121 million barrels and estimates the block’s entire prospectivity at 588 million barrels. Tullow’s internal estimate on Pai Pai is 115 million barrels with a P10 of 315 million barrels. Investec estimate the unrisked impact of success at Pai Pai to Africa Oil and Tullow at SEK5.02 and 19p respectively.

The follow-on potential is however not as expansive as Ngamia, with the well only providing a direct read-through to the PaiPai North lead. The other prospects on the block (Sirius and Bellatrix) seals appear to be reliant on bounding faults rather than a four-way dip closure at Pai Pai. Investec went on to say that despite this, “a commercial discovery would broaden the geological play in Kenya, opening up the Cretaceous prospectivity and supporting other South Sudanese analogues. The outcome of the well should also impact the decision of the partnership whether to mobilize additional rigs to the region and potentially influence undecided pipeline routes if a discovery ultimately proved to be commercial.”

http://www.petroleumafrica.com/en/newsarticle.php?NewsID=143…

[niki550525]

Hallo @,
ich hab grad ein wenig Zeit.......
Gestern wurde ein High Wave gebildet. Das deutet auf einen Trendwechsel hin. Das vor 2 Tagen erzeugte BU If wurde somit gestern bestätigt.
Dies zeigt sich auch an der Charttechnik:
Slow STO beginnt zu drehen und dürfte heute in den grünen Bereich vorstoßen.
RSI ist von der 50% Linie abgeprallt und befindet sich nun bei 54,16%
Ziel sind nun die 10,45 CAN$ (SAR). Das würde dann einen weiteren Schub geben, der bis auf die 12 gehen könnte (obere Grenze vom Trendkanal.
Hoffe das ich durch meine Beiträge auch ein wenig Hilfestellung geben kann :-)
Danke auch an alle die hier immer wieder gute recherchen hereinstellen. Das ist wie auch meine Arbeit nicht selbstverständlich, weil damit auch immer Arbeit und Zeit verbunden ist, die man der Allgemeinheit zur Verfügung stellt.
Niki

[gimo211]

... wenn man alle diese Erwartungen zu Twiga so hört, stellt sich doch einiges an "Excitement" ein...

... wie locker beispielsweise Keith Hill im folgenden (kurzen und sehr sehenswerten) Interview sagt, dass man zunächst die Twiga results abwartet, um dann zu einem besseren Preis das angekündigt $200 Millionen PP vorsieht...

I like it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3-iCCagwJ8

[Drill-a-Hill]

Zitat von motz1: short-term exploration-led catalysts with Twiga-1 due in late October

BIG catalyst for AOI