Paragon turns sights on oil, gas

PANCONTINENTAL Oil & Gas, with local company Paragon Holdings as minority shareholder, has been granted a petroleum exploration licence for three blocks in the Walvis Basin offshore northern Namibia.

Pancontinental holds an 85 per cent stake in the licence area, alongside 15 per cent partner, Paragon Holdings, founded by Namibian businessmen Lazarus Jacobs and Desmond Amunyela.Austalian-based Pancontinental agreed in March this year to carry Paragon until the start of development of any oil or gas discovery.According to a statement by Pancontinental yesterday, the licence covers 17 295 sq km over blocks 2012B, 2112A and 2113B and gives the company exclusive rights for a first exploration period of four years, followed by two additional periods of two years each, as well as provisions for the continuation of the exclusive rights under any oil or gas development.Platts.com yesterday reported that offshore Namibia is attracting significant international interest as an emerging oil and gas province, with Tullow Oil already developing the large Kudu gas field and other companies actively exploring the region.Pancontinental said it believed the significantly under-explored region has the potential for ‘very large’ oil and gas reserves. Offshore Namibia is the plate tectonic ‘conjugate’ of offshore Brazil, where world-scale oil and gas discoveries have been made in recent years and lies on the West African continental margin adjacent to Angola, where there have also been major oil discoveries.- www.platts.com

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