All articles in the Farm in, Farm Out Section:

The Cabinda Central Licence Block B looks dicey, but…

AFREN PLC, THEAIM LISTED independent targeting African resources, has shown up in Angola, scouring for opportunities. Its first choice, to go by the map, doesn’t look exciting. The company has entered into a Heads of Agreement with Gulf Energy Resources to acquire a 5% stake in the Cabinda Central License Block B, Cabinda province, onshore Angola. What the map does not show is that a number of wells did encounter- in the general onshore Cabinda area-encouraging oil shows in fractured basement and in the pre-salt sediments. In actual fact, most of the wells in this area were drilled in the mid 1960’s on minimal seismic data or just gravity data, or-for that matter-rudimentary surface geology mapping. Discussions with some oil industry analysts on this acquisition by Afren, reveals that it is geologically and strategically a very well placed move by the company. From a regional hydrocarbon perspective, the onshore Cabinda area is optimally placed in that it is the onshore extension of the prolific geology of Block 0, where Chevron is producing over 400,000BOPD. The NW-SE geologic trend of Chevron’s oilfields show that this trend should extend into the onshore area. Had there not been 27 years of civil war in Angola, this area could have been explored and probably developed and placed on production decades ago.

Devon Energy is the operator of the 1,125 sq km license. Other partners in the block are Repsol 25%, Sonangol 20%, and Petrogal with 20%. Devon plans to re-commence exploration work in the License subject to the effectiveness of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).