London, 29 March 2017, Impact Oil and Gas Ltd, the African-focused pure exploration company, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Impact Oil & Gas AGC Ltd (“Impact”), has reached an agreement with CNOOC UK Limited (“CNOOC”), for the farm-out of a 65% participating interest in a Production Sharing Contract (“PSC”) and associated joint operating agreement in the AGC Profond block located in the offshore joint development zone between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau (“the Zone”).
CNOOC is a subsidiary of CNOOC LIMITED, which (together with its subsidiaries) is the largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas in China and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world.
The offshore AGC Profond PSC covers approximately 6,700km², in water depths ranging from 1,400m to 3,700m, and is located west of the Dome Flore and Dome Gea oil accumulations, and to the south of the recent Fan-1 and SNE-1 and 2 oil discoveries of Cairn / ConocoPhillips / FAR.
Impact was awarded the licence in October 2014, commencing its technical evaluation of the AGC Profond PSC with the purchase of legacy 2D and 3D seismic data in November 2014, comprising of approximately 3,990km2 3D and 4,739 line km of 2D seismic.
Prospectivity has been identified at various stratigraphic levels, from the Cretaceous deep-water clastics in the west of the licence, to the Jurassic and Cretaceous platform margin plays in the east, similar to the recent discoveries by Cairn.
Impact had previously entered into a farm-out agreement with Woodside Energy (Senegal) Pty Ltd covering the AGC Profond licence. However, certain conditions precedent to completion had not been satisfied or waived and the agreement was terminated on 9th February 2017.
The transaction was completed on 23 March 2017. The participating interests in the AGC Profond PSC following completion of the farm-in by CNOOC is as follows: CNOOC UK Limited, Operator (65%); Entreprise AGC SA (an entity owned by Senegal and Guinea-Bissau pursuant to the documents governing the Zone) (15%) and Impact (20%).
“We are delighted to have a company of CNOOC’s stature joining us as a partner in the AGC Profond Block. We are very excited about the potential of the block given its location and proximity to a number of recent discoveries by Cairn and Kosmos and are confident that CNOOC Group’s technical and financial strength and the knowledge that it has in the conjugate basins of the Atlantic Margins will bring substantial value to the partnership.
“Impact continues to deliver on its strategy of building an attractive group of exploration assets and securing major oil companies as partners.”
Mike Doherty, Executive Chairman of Impact Oil & Gas