DNO International ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas company announced that it has been selected by the Ministry of Oil and Minerals of the Republic of Yemen as successful bidder for onshore Block 84. The Company also announced that it has separately entered into a farm-in agreement with respect of Block 36 onshore in the Sultanate of Oman.
DNO Yemen AS has been awarded a 59.5 percent participating interest (70 percent paying interest) and operatorship of Block 84, joining Turkey’s Dogan Enerji Yatirimlari Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. with a 25.5 percent participating interest (30 percent paying interest) and Yemen Oil and Gas Corporation, a state company, with a 15 percent participating interest. The partners will acquire new 3D seismic and drill two exploration wells during the first exploration period.
The Block 36 farm-in agreement provides for the transfer to DNO Oman AS of a 75 percent participating interest (100 percent paying interest) from Allied Petroleum Exploration Inc. The Company will assume operatorship and fund reprocessing of existing and acquisition of new 2D seismic data and drilling of two exploration wells.
“Block 84 in Yemen and Block 36 in Oman expand our footprint in two core areas in which we have extensive subsurface knowledge and operating history,” said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, DNO International’s Executive Chairman. “And we are building up our pipeline of exploration prospects with a focus on materiality and early execution,” he added.
Block 36 is located in the Rub al Khali basin and covers a surface area of more than 18,000 km2. Two exploration wells previously drilled in the block have confirmed the presence of source rock in the basal Silurian hot shale, an organic-rich shale that has sourced the majority of the oil and gas fields discovered in the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. Multiple stacked potential reservoir units have also been identified and mapped on the existing seismic data comprising 10,000 km of 2D seismic data complemented by high-resolution gravity and aeromagnetic surveys. Technical work to date suggests potential lead sizes in excess of 100 million barrels.
Block 84 onshore Yemen covers a surface area of 731 km2 and is located in the Masila-Seiyun Basin, adjacent to Block 14 where more than one billion barrels of oil have been discovered. The Company already holds interests in five onshore Yemen Blocks, two of which, Blocks 43 and 47, are also located in the Masila-Seiyun Basin.
Completion of the Block 36 transfer is subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, including approval by the Ministry of Oil and Gas of the Sultanate of Oman. The award of Block 84 is subject to customary government approvals and ratification of a Production Sharing Agreement.
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