Oslo-listed oil and gas company Panoro Energy has signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with the Government of Equatorial Guinea for offshore Block EG-23.
Panoro now holds an 80% participating interest and operatorship of Block EG-23, and is partnered by Equatorial Guinea's state-owned oil company GEPetrol, which holds the remaining 20%.
Block EG-23 is located offshore Equatorial Guinea north of Bioko Island and adjacent to the producing Alba gas and condensate field.
Covering a surface area of approximately 600 km2 in water depths ranging from 50 meters to 100 meters, 19 wells have been drilled on Block EG-23 to date resulting in seven hydrocarbon discoveries (four oil, two gas and one gas/condensate), some of which have been tested.
The block was previously held by Marathon. Panoro’s technical evaluation indicates a range of plays exist on the block and has identified a number of prospects and leads in addition to the existing discoveries which, based on existing data, are estimated by the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons to hold contingent resources of approximately 104 million barrels of oil and condensate and 215 billion cubic feet of gas.
Panoro and GEPetrol have been awarded block EG-23 for an initial period of three years during which they will conduct subsurface studies based on existing seismic data to further define and evaluate the prospectivity of the block.
Following this, the partners will have the option to enter into a further two-year period, during which they will undertake to drill an exploration well.
“We are delighted to further expand our presence in Equatorial Guinea. Block EG-23 is our second operated asset in country and aligns well with our infrastructure-led exploration and appraisal strategy, increasing our access to a large inventory of oil, gas and condensate discoveries, prospects and leads within tie back distance of existing production facilities.
“We look forward to extending our partnership with GEPetrol to leverage our collective core subsurface skill sets to unlock the substantial upside potential that exists on the block,” said John Hamilton, CEO of Panoro.