Woodside, in partnership with Dana Petroleum, also has offshore Kenyan acreage.

Woodside has said offshore Kenya's geology is similar to offshore Mauritania where the company and its partners are having exploration success, according to a report in Kenyan newspaper, The Standard, earlier this year.

Pancontinental revealed, in its June quarterly activities report, that it had been conducting discussions with potential farminees for its Kenyan blocks.

Pancontinental company secretary Ernie Myers said the outcome of those discussions should be known in “a couple of weeks’ time”.

The Kenyan discussions come close on the heels of the company getting US oil major Anadarko International Energy Company to farm-in on Pancontinental’s Malta project.

Also coming up within the next two weeks is the August 5 general meeting where shareholders will get to vote on whether Pancontinental acquires its African partner Afrex.

One of the key drivers for the acquisition is to make the ownership of the African projects clear to Pancontinental shareholders.

If the acquisition goes ahead, Pancontinental will go from being a 40% shareholder in the projects to owning them fully by issuing 142 million shares to Afrex’s owners.

The deal will also provide a windfall for Pancontinental chairman David Kennedy, who also has a 76% stake in Afrex.

Myers said Kennedy would gain an extra 109 million Pancontinental shares. That will take his holding to 136 million shares, worth nearly $11 million at the company’s current 8c share price.

Myers said Kennedy would not be voting on the Afrex decision.

Besides its Kenyan and Maltese projects, Pancontinental also has interests in project in New Zealand and Australia. The company is also reviewing opportunities in Australasia and east and north Africa.