Wednesday 15 August 2018

Azinam Limited, the Seacrest Capital Group-backed Namibian explorer, announced that ExxonMobil Namibia (PEL44) Limited, an affiliate of Exxon Mobil Corporation, has entered into an agreement with Azinam to acquire a 30% interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence (“PEL”) 44, offshore Namibia. The acquisition is subject to government approval and other conditions.

Azinam will retain a 12.5% interest, with Maurel and Prom, the licence operator, retaining its current 42.5% equity interest and Namibian partners NAMCOR, Livingstone Mining, and Frontier Minerals also retaining their carried interests of 8%, 4% and 3% respectively.

PEL 44 is located in the Walvis Basin and covers an area of 5,722km2, in water depths ranging from less than 300 metres to over 2,500 metres. In 2016, Azinam acquired a 2,000km² 3D seismic survey. Following interpretation, Azinam acquired an additional 1,160km² of new data. Processing of this data is ongoing.

This transaction further builds upon the increasing industry activity in Namibia, with ONGC recently farming into PEL 37, where the operator, Tullow Oil, is planning to spud a well in Q3 2018. In addition, the operator of the PEL 71 licence partnership, in which Azinam holds a 20% interest, has recently secured the Ocean Rig Poseidon to drill Prospect S in Q4 2018.