Farm Out Agreement with Eni in Morocco

RNS Number : 4602T

Chariot Oil & Gas Ld

30 March 2016

 

30 March 2016

Chariot Oil & Gas Limited

("Chariot", the "Company" or the "Group")

Farm Out Agreement with Eni in Rabat Deep Offshore, Morocco

·      Eni to acquire 40% equity interest in, and operatorship of, the Rabat Deep Offshore exploration permits I-VI;

·      Eni to carry Chariot in a deepwater well on the JP-1 prospect, to an agreed cap;

·      Eni to carry Chariot for other geological and administrative costs relating to work commitments in the next licence period;

·      Eni to pay a contribution towards Chariot's investment to date;

·      Funds to be used for continued development of Chariot's portfolio; and

·      Completion is subject to receipt of Moroccan authorities and partner approvals.

Chariot Oil & Gas Limited (AIM: CHAR), the Atlantic margins focused oil and gas exploration company is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Chariot Oil & Gas Investments (Morocco) Ltd., has signed a farm-out agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Eni, which will acquire operatorship and a 40% equity interest in return for a capped carry on drilling the JP-1 prospect. Eni will also carry Chariot for other geological and administrative costs relating to work commitments in the next licence period of Rabat Deep and will pay a contribution which will equate to Chariot's investment to date and be used for the continued development of Chariot's portfolio. This agreement demonstrates Chariot's ability to deliver on its strategy; seeking third party investment in order to de-risk and progress its assets towards drilling in order to provide the opportunity for transformational growth.  

Following completion of this agreement the licence ownership will be as follows: Eni (Operator, 40% equity interest), Woodside (25% equity interest), Chariot (10% equity interest) and Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines ("ONHYM") (25% carried interest).

The Rabat Deep Offshore licence area is located approximately 30km offshore in water depths ranging from 150m to 3,500m. The JP-1 prospect has been described following detailed processing and interpretation of 3D seismic data as a large, four-way dip closed structure of approximately 200 square km areal extent, with Jurassic carbonate primary reservoir objectives. Based on this data, Netherland Sewell and Associates Inc. conducted an independent Competent Person's Report and has estimated a gross mean prospective resource of 768mmbbls for JP-1. The prospect sits adjacent to a source kitchen modelled to be oil generating and third party drilling offshore Morocco has confirmed that the Jurassic can have excellent reservoirs and the presence of a light oil charge, hence the focus on this play within Chariot's acreage.

Retaining a 10% equity interest in the drilling of this well has the potential to create transformational value in the success case due to the large scale of prospective resources, excellent contract commercial terms and robust economics even in the current lower oil price environment. Additional prospects and leads have been identified within the Jurassic fairway and any success in JP-1 would also materially de-risk these other targets and offer significant follow-on exploration potential in both Rabat Deep and the neighbouring Mohammedia permit (Chariot, Operator with 75% equity interest).

The completion of this farm-out agreement remains subject to both the approval of the Moroccan authorities and various conditions precedent, a number of which are outside of Chariot's control.

Larry Bottomley, CEO commented:

"We are very pleased to have signed this farm-out agreement with Eni as the future operator of our Rabat Deep acreage. We look forward to working with them and our other partners, Woodside and ONHYM, to progress to drilling the JP-1 prospect which, subject to the relevant approvals, well planning and securing a drill rig, we anticipate to occur in 2017. The response we had to the partnering initiative and subsequently securing this deal endorses our technical view of the asset and is another milestone in delivering on our strategy. Eni is a world-class explorer and an experienced operator focused on projects with the potential for material production.

"Despite the challenges posed by current market sentiment, Chariot's high quality assets continue to attract industry investment. We are excited that we now have an opportunity to see one of our priority targets through to drilling at near zero cost to the Company, with the agreed cap above recent drilling cost estimates provided by an independent party."

For further information please contact: Chariot Oil & Gas Limited Larry Bottomley, CEO	[phone]
finnCap (Nominated Adviser) Matt Goode, Christopher Raggett	[phone]
Jefferies International Limited (Broker) Chris Zeal, Max Jones	[phone]
EMC2 Advisory (Media Contact) Natalia Erikssen	[phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Chariot

Chariot Oil & Gas Limited is an independent oil and gas exploration group. It holds licences covering four blocks in Namibia, one block in Mauritania, two blocks in Morocco and four licences in the Barreirinhas Basin offshore Brazil. All of these blocks are currently in the exploration phase.

The ordinary shares of Chariot Oil & Gas Limited are admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol 'CHAR'.

 

END

 

 

AGRPGUCUWUPQGMB