Chariot has longer to look for oil

CHARIOT, owner of Enigma Oil & Gas Exploration, has received Government approval to extend the initial exploration phases of its eight licences offshore Namibia.

This will allow the company time to progress its technical analysis, as well as to look for other farm-out partners, Chariot CEO James Burgess said in statement on the company’s website. Farm-out agreements form an integral part of Chariot’s strategy. Earlier this year, the company signed a farm-out agreement with Petrobas for southern block 2714A.’As announced previously, we are encouraged by the multiple expressions of interest we have received in viewing this data and this extension will provide more time for third parties to evaluate our blocks,’ he said.Burgess also announced on Monday that the 3D seismic acquisition operations in 2714A are done and that they are busy processing and interpreting the data.’The seismic acquisition programmes across all our offshore blocks have been undertaken to specifically mature the best locations for a potential drilling campaign. Once the processing and interpretation is complete, we will formally open another dataroom,’ he said.He said all the initial exploration period work obligations on Chariot’s licences, as specified by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Namibia, have been fulfilled and have been exceeded by the substantial seismic acquisition and geologic work undertaken to date. The initial exploration periods for blocks 2312A & B and 2412A & B in the north and block 2714A will now end on August 31 2011, while the initial exploration periods for blocks 1811A & B and block 2714B has been extended to October 27 next year. Burgess furthermore said the extension of the licence terms will not preclude the drilling of a well earlier than required by the licence terms if the opportunity arises.Earlier this year, Chariot said the oil seepage slicks from the blocks indicate a ‘working petroleum system’.’The Namibian oil and gas sedimentary basins are relatively under-explored frontier basins for hydrocarbon accumulations. To date, there has been a total of 14 wells drilled offshore Namibia. As Namibia is a conjugate margin to Brazil in the south Atlantic, it shares a common geological history and petroleum system style,’ the company said.’The one prospect and 22 leads discovered to date, mean prospective resources of 5,24 million barrels of oil and liquid,’ Chariot claimed.Their interest is further tickled by the close proximity of oil, natural gas and condensate accumulations, as well as their multidisciplinary approach which demonstrates that Namibia ‘contains mature source rocks and hydrocarbon migration pathways to reservoirs’.jo-mare@namibian.com.na