Africa Oil Announces Additional Pay at Etuko-1 and an Update on Development Plans
Jul 31, 2013 - 02:00 ET
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - July 31, 2013) - Africa Oil Corp. (TSX VENTURE:AOI)(OMX:AOI) ("Africa Oil" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's major exploration success in Kenya continues with the Etuko-1 discovery on Block 10BB. The Etuko-1 has been deepened to penetrate Miocene-age sandstones of the Lower Lokhone formation and has encountered approximately 50 metres of potential net pay. This is in addition to the over 40 metres of net pay confirmed in the shallower Auwerwer and Upper Lokhone reservoirs previously announced.
Partner and Operator, Tullow Oil plc, reported today that following the success at Etuko-1, the Basin volumes are now expected to exceed the threshold for development studies to commence.
In May 2013, drilling commenced on the Etuko prospect, 14 km east of Twiga South-1. This is the first test of the Basin Flank Play in the eastern part of the Basin and results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluid confirm a new oil discovery with net pay of over 40 metres in the Auwerwer and Upper Lokhone targets. The well was then deepened into the Lower Lokhone sands and encountered approximately 50 metres of additional potential net pay that will be included in a program of flow testing later this year to determine their production potential. Although the Lower Lokhone sands are lower quality than the main objectives in the Auwerwer and Upper Lokhone formations, the partners successfully flowed oil from this interval in the Ngamia-1 well. Once operations at Etuko-1 are complete, the rig will move to the Agete prospect located 6 km north of the Twiga South discovery.
Ekales-1, the next exploration well in the Basin Bounding Fault Play and located between the Ngamia and Twiga-South discoveries, commenced drilling on 22 July 2013 and will target similar objectives. A 550 sq km 3D survey over the area, which will support an appraisal program, is also scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2013.
Africa Oil's acreage includes several Tertiary-aged rift basins that have similar characteristics to the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda. Over 90 leads and prospects have so far been identified across this acreage in Kenya following the acquisition of 55,000 sq km of FTG and more than 6,500 km of 2D seismic. Exploration drilling and testing activity in the region commenced in January 2012 with the drilling of the Ngamia-1 well followed by the Twiga South-1 well. Exploration and appraisal activities to date have significantly de-risked the remaining prospectivity in the Basin and underpin the belief that it and other basins within Africa Oil's acreage could have similar potential to the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda.
The excellent results to date onshore Kenya are an important step towards understanding the overall Basin potential and its commerciality.
Resources discovered to date are of a scale that the Partnership will initiate discussions with the Government of Kenya and other relevant stakeholders to consider development options. These discussions include consideration of a "start-up phase" oil production system with potential to deliver significant production rates with oil export via road or rail in advance of a full-scale pipeline development. To facilitate these development activities in parallel with exploration and appraisal, an "Area of Interest" (AOI), encompassing the Basin discoveries and further prospects in Blocks 13T and 10BB, was agreed with the Government of Kenya in February 2013. This agreement allows a multiple field approach to development of the resources while permitting the continued focus on exploration to increase the resource base while concurrently appraising discoveries.
Africa Oil Corp. is a Canadian oil and gas company with assets in Kenya and Ethiopia as well as Puntland (Somalia) through its 45% equity interest in Horn Petroleum Corporation. Africa Oil's East African holdings are in within a world-class exploration play fairway with a total gross land package in this prolific region in excess of 250,000 square kilometers. The East African Rift Basin system is one of the last of the great rift basins to be explored. Three new significant discoveries have been announced in the Lokichar basin in which the Company holds a 50% interest along with operator Tullow Oil plc. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and on First North at NASDAQ OMX-Stockholm under the symbol "AOI".
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Keith C. Hill, President and CEO
"There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
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