Roc Oil said last Friday it would accelerate its onshore Angola exploration program following positive seismic data.
The Roc-operated Cabinda South Joint Venture has agreed to accelerate the exploration program, aiming to drill the first of an initial program of three exploration wells in September.
“The processing and initial interpretation of the 162 square kilometre 3D and 505km 2D seismic acquired in the Cabinda South Block between June and November 2005 continues to yield encouraging results with numerous prospects and leads and several different play concepts being identified,” Roc CEO John Doran said.
"Although interpretation is still at a preliminary stage, the seismic reviewed to date has confirmed onshore Angola in the pole position within Roc's exploration portfolio, as evidenced by the greatly accelerated 2006 work program."
The Cabinda South Joint Venture partners have budgeted US$45 million for the project next year. Roc's share will be US$34 million (A$45m).
Roc operates and owns 60% of Cabinda South. The other partners are Force Petroleum Ltd. and Angolan government-owned Sonangol.
In North Africa, Woodside is due to start drilling late this month in Libya.
Woodside was among the first Western companies to re-enter Libya when US and United Nations sanctions were removed in 2003 following Libya’s agreement to pay compensation to families of people killed in the 1988 bombing of a Pan American flight over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Woodside was an enthusiastic participant in recent Libyan bidding rounds. It has acquired onshore and offshore Libyan acreage and is now the third-biggest holder of Libyan exploration acreage.
Later this month, it will begin a six-well exploration program in the onshore Murzuq Basin, 1500 kilometres south-west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
The combined onshore program has been priced at more than $US100 million. Woodside is a 45% partner and operator with Repsol and Hellenic Petroleum.
Woodside will also soon start an initial seven-well program will be drilled in the onshore portion of the Sirte Basin in northern Libya.
Late this year, Woodside plans to drill four exploration wells up to 100 kilometres offshore in the Gulf of Sirte.
While Woodside has yet to announce the size of the oil targets it has identified in Libya, its Murzuq and Sirte Basin blocks are definitely in elephant country.
In the Murzuq Basin, there are several multi-hundred million barrel fields, while in the onshore Sirte Woodside’s blocks are surrounded by several multi-billion barrel fields.
The offshore program has been costed at $US94 million. Woodside's partners are US group Occidental and Liwa, a United Arab Emirates government-owned company.
Another ASX-listed company in Libya is Oil Search, which teamed with Petrobras of Brazil to successfully bid for an interest in Block 18, an offshore permit.
Meanwhile in East Africa, Origin Energy last week made a bold move into Kenyan exploration.
Origin is definitely a major energy player, but all of its current projects are in Australia and New Zealand. However, the company has decided that with Australian oil and gas exploration opportunities shrinking, the time has come to look overseas for growth, and it is currently assessing other foreign opportunities.
While Angola and Libya have long histories of petroleum production, Kenya is very much frontier territory and currently has no proved oil or gas reserves.
But ASX-listed junior explorer Pancontinental Oil & Gas has long been talking up its Kenyan acreage, and it finally has a cashed-up major player as a farmin partner.
Origin will earn 50% of ground held by Australian-listed explorer Pancontinental Oil and Gas by conducting a $US4 million ($5.49 million) detailed 2D seismic program over its two blocks.
Origin can earn a further 25% in each block if it funds the drilling of an exploration well.
Pancontinental said the prospects in Kenya were estimated to have "world-class size speculative oil and gas reserves potential".
But Woodside has rated the odds of success in its own Kenyan acreage as very low. This is definitely high-risk, high-reward territory.
Also in East Africa, Hardman has spudded its first Ugandan well in equal partnership with Tullow Oil. Mputa-1 is targeting a structural prospect with potential multiple objectives. The prospect was defined by the 2005 onshore seismic survey and oil seeps have been identified in the immediate area. With the permit being designated as “Block 2”, it goes without saying that the Uganda petroleum industry is in its infancy.
On the other side of the continent, Hardman is involved in two offshore Mauritanian joint ventures – one led by Woodside, the other by Dana Petroleum. Roc Oil is also involved in both of these ventures.
Roc is a 3.2% partner in the Woodside-led Chinguetti joint venture and only 2% in the Dana-led venture.
While Roc is pleased to be involved in these projects, it wants to have larger stakes in future African projects. As well as its Mauritanian and Angolan acreage, Roc has some offshore Equatorial Guinea blocks.
Roc has an 18.75% interest (free carried to 15%) in its Equatorial Guinea blocks and 60% in its onshore Angola acreage.
"The market wants to see another discovery in a large field where Roc has a significant equity of close to 20% or upwards," Doran told EnergyReview.net last year.
