McDermott Will & Emery is advising Sirius Petroleum PLC, in relation to its acquisition of a shareholding in the joint venture company, COPDC Petroleum Development Company Limited, which has executed agreements with NNPC (Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation) regarding the development of the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 65 licence, onshore Nigeria, and the obtaining of a senior loan facility from Trafigura Pte Ltd of up to $200Million.
The loan will be used for Phase 1 of the development of 51Million barrels (MMbbls) of proven and probable reserves on the OML 65 licence.
OML 65 is a producing onshore block with 2P reserves of 51MMbbls, according to a Gaffney Cline & Associates CPR:
- The existing producing field, Abura, has been in production since the 1970s, has been ascribed 16.2 MMbbls remaining 2P reserves [1] and is currently producing c.8,500barrels of oil per day (BOPD).
- OML 65 also contains two further discovered and appraised fields, Woodpile and Osaka, which have not been developed to date and will form part of the forward work programme. The two discovered fields contain an estimated 34.9MMbbls additional 2P reserves.
- The existing production facilities and infrastructure servicing the Abura field are capable of handling up to 40,000BOPD.
The press release says: Sirius Petroleum is an Africa-focused oil and gas development, production and exploration company, building a range of diversified producing and development assets. Its strategy to acquire oil & gas assets which require funding to support the further development of existing production, develop appraised assets and future exploration assets, both offshore and onshore. Sirius works with a range of indigenous and international operational and funding partners.
Sir. I would want to correct two ghost words that could miss lead follow up:
I) “Woodpile”. The correct word is Owopele and ii) “Osaka”. The correct word is Osioka. And the discovered Oil fields are:.
1) Owopele Oil field: Discovered by MPN in 1964. Unexploited till date.
2) Owopele- North -1: wild cat, oil discovery well drilled by NPDC in 1995. Tested commercial OIL production from low resistivity pay zones. Unappraised till date.
3) Osioka-South- 2: Appraisal/ Oil/Condensate/gas discovery well. Drilled by NPDC in 1994. Tested. Unappraised till date.
4) Abura-Southeast – 1: wild cat Oil discovery well. Drilled by NPDC in 1994. Unappraised.
All these discovered and tested fields that are left FALLOW, when developed , the NG and AG could be channel into The AKK gas pipe line and the Oil Evacuated through the Forcados export pipeline via Utorogu flowstation.
NPDC intentions are the right way to go as investors funds are guaranteed with positive ROR.