Harvest Natural Resources Inc. announced today that a Declaration of Commerciality (DOC) has been signed with the Gabonese Republic (Gabon) pertaining to the Dussafu Marin permit offshore Gabon. This follows Gabon's award, on 17 July, of an Exclusive Exploitation Authorization (EEA) for the development and exploitation of oil discoveries on the Dussafu block.
The EEA provides for exploitation of the pre-salt oil discoveries on the Ruche (2011), Tortue (2013), Moubenga (1981), and Walt Whitman (1996) prospects. These discoveries will be named, respectively, Ruche A, Ruche B, Ruche C and Ruche D, and collectively will be called the Ruche field. The area awarded by the EEA covers 850.5sq km, which is the equivalent area of 36.5 offshore blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposed field development plan (FDP) includes a single floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) and sub-sea wells which will be tied back to the FPSO. Once installed, the production infrastructure should allow for rapid and economic development of the full potential in the Ruche field that will be appraised as part of the exploitation plan. Harvest will submit the proposed FDP within the next 90 days for sanction by Gabon.
The fields were independently assessed by Gaffney Cline & Associates to hold 1C, 2C and 3C economically recoverable gross contingent resources of 13.2MMbo, 33.4MMbo and 70.3MMbo respectively.
Harvest President & CEO, James A. Edmiston, said "The award of the EEA is a major milestone toward bringing the Dussafu block into production. In addition, the area of the EEA should enable an efficient exploitation of the numerous defined undrilled structures immediately adjacent to all four discoveries and, as such, we expect the recoverable resources within the EEA to grow considerably in the coming years."
Partner Panoro Energy says it seeks to unlock the "significant pre-salt potential within the Dussafu license."
Houston-based Harvest operates and holds a 66.667% interest in the Dussafu Marin permit through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Harvest Dussafu, B.V. Oslo-based Panoro Energy ASA holds a 33.33% stake in the Dussafu Marin permit.
Map from Harvest Natural Resources Inc.
Related coverage:
Polarcus begins Gabon seismic, 8 October 2013
Panoro sidetrack finds oil off Gabon, 11 February 2013
Gabon wildcat roars, 1 Feb 2013
E&P minnows making their mark upstream, 1 January 2011
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