Kairiki – formerly Yilgarn Gold – and Alpine have teamed up to acquire a 40% stake in an onshore Romanian exploration permit and a 100% interest in an onshore Tunisian permit, both owned by Stratic Energy, a United Kingdom-listed company.
In return for these interests, the partners have agreed to pay $1 million cash to Stratic.
AuDAX said the acquisitions were the first purchases in regard to the area of mutual interest agreements signed between the two partners last month.
“The AuDAX Board believes that these projects are strategically important in establishing Alpine’s presence in the emerging Tunisia and Romania markets, and clearly demonstrates the significance of the recently announced acquisition of Alpine by AuDAX and the skills of the new management team,” the company said.
“Following these initial entry positions, Alpine and Kairiki are continuing to look for further opportunities to business-build around these foothold positions to grow our portfolio of oil and gas assets in these countries in the near term.”
In Romania, the South Craiova permit covers about 6000 square kilometres and lies in between the productive oil-gas fields in the country and Bulgaria.
The permit is operated by Canadian-listed Sterling Resources, which has a 60% stake. Following the acquisition, Alpine and Kairiki will each have a 20% interest.
AuDAX said the joint venture had recently undertaken considerable geological and geophysical work including two phases of seismic acquisition of 156km and 478km respectively in 2006.
“Given Romania's recent entry into the European Union, and that market's appetite for both oil and gas, the South Craiova block is an excellent entry position in-country for the Alpine-Kairiki partnership,” the company said.
“This asset provides the capability for both near-term multiple drilling, at low cost and exposure to rapidly monetisable oil or gas revenue.”
In Tunisia, the Chorbane permit contains three main prospects, which AuDAX said had been matured for drilling as a result of well-defined seismic coverage.
The joint venture plans to finish evaluating 219km of prospect specific 2D seismic and integrate it into the existing database, before selecting which prospect to drill.
Under the terms, the licence requires one well to be drilled in the next three years.
“All prospects, typical of the area, are structurally complex with a number of potential reservoirs and the area offers both oil and gas potential, with ready markets and existing nearby infrastructure for both,” AuDAX said.
