GLOBAL TO ACQUIRE OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION INTERESTS IN NAMIBIA AND JUAN DE NOVA
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE: 30th October 2015
SEPTEMBER 2015 QUARTERLY REPORT
The Board of Global Petroleum Limited ('Global' or 'Company') is pleased to present its Quarterly Report for the period ending 30 September 2015.
Summary
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In Namibia, as previously reported the Initial Exploration Period of the Licence was extended for one year until December 2015, in return for an additional work programme, involving further modelling using both seismic and gravity data. The results of this combined seismic and gravity work has proved to be very encouraging with regard to the hydrocarbon potential in Global's offshore blocks. Notably the work has increased confidence in a syn-rift oil play in the outboard or deep water region offshore Namibia and the likely presence of both reservoir and source within the Company's blocks. Combined with the existing prospect portfolio within the blocks, this has improved Global's views on the overall prospectivity of the acreage. The Company is therefore discussing with the Namibian authorities possible terms for the continuation of the Licence beyond the current extension period.
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The Company continues to progress the process for award of its four exploration applications offshore Italy. In this connection, the Italian authorities have recently requested supplementary information relevant to the applications.
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Consistent with its previously announced strategy the Company has been involved in a number of detailed negotiations with counterparties holding appropriate assets - Global remains in a strong financial position relative to many of its peers. Many companies have little cash and very limited access to capital, and it is apparent that potential counterparties are becoming increasingly realistic with regard to the terms at which they will be able to transact. However, the Company remains extremely selective regarding the quality of assets it would consider investing in, and the terms of any such investment.
For further information please visit www.globalpetroleum.com.au or contact:
Global Petroleum Limited
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Peter Hill, Managing Director & CEO
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+44(0)207495 6802
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Damien Cronin, Company Secretary
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+61(0)7 3310 8732
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ABN 68 064 120 896
Level 5, Toowong Tower, 9 Sherwood Road, Toowong, QLD 4066 Telephone: + 61 7 3310 8732 / Fax: +61 7 3310 8823
RFC Ambrian Limited (Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker)
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Samantha Harrison / Charlie Cryer
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+44(0)203440 6800
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FirstEnergy Capital LLP (Joint Broker)
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Hugh Sanderson / Travis Inlow
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+44(0)207448 0200
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Tavistock (Financial PR & IR)
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Simon Hudson / Edward Portman
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+44(0)207920 3150
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Namibian Project
The Namibian Project consists of an 85% participating interest in Petroleum Exploration Licence Number 29 ('Licence') covering Offshore Blocks 1910B and 2010A in the Republic of Namibia. The Licence, issued on 3 December 2010, covers 11,730 square kilometres and is located in offshore Namibia in water depths ranging from 1,300 metres to 3,000 metres (Refer Figure 1).
The Initial Exploration Period of the Licence expired in December 2014, and Global fulfilled the corresponding work obligations some time ago. This involved reinterpretation of 2,000 kilometres of purchased seismic, and commissioning a high resolution 2D seismic acquisition programme of some 2,000 kilometres over the acreage. The new data confirmed the presence of two large structures and other potential leads, and accordingly the Company resolved to seek a partner for the next phase of exploration activity on its acreage, commencing with 3D seismic.
Exploration drilling results in Namibia have been mixed to date. Of the wells drilled in the Walvis basin, Global regards the HRT operated Wingat-1 well as being the most significant in that liquid hydrocarbons were recovered from the Aptian interval, thus establishing for the first time the presence of a source rock actively generating oil in the Walvis Basin.
The Welwitschia-1A well was previously plugged and abandoned. It had been drilled to a depth of 2,454m in Block 2011A, adjacent to Global's Block 2010A.
The geological setting of Global's blocks is distinct from that targeted by the Welwitschia-1A well. Notwithstanding the relative proximity of the two, the great majority of the prospectivity in Global's acreage is mapped in older sediments. The deeper structures were not reached by the Welwitschia-1A well. Therefore, the significant potential of these deeper traps and reservoirs remains untested.
The Company therefore remains optimistic about the potential of its Namibian blocks given the technical differentiation between the prospectivity on its blocks and the target drilled at Welwitschia-1A. However, the Company is mindful of the wider context which has undoubtedly had a bearing on its previous farm-out efforts in
Namibia: industry and market sentiment has been greatly affected by disappointing drilling results both in Namibia and in Atlantic margin frontier plays generally, and also by current low oil prices.
The Company agreed with the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy ('MME') a 12 month extension of the Initial Exploration Period of the Licence, to December 2015, on the basis of an agreed work programme which entailed further interpretation work on existing seismic data. The results of this combined seismic and gravity work has provided further encouragement with regard to the hydrocarbon potential in Global's offshore blocks. Notably the work has increased confidence in a syn-rift oil play in the outboard or deep water region offshore Namibia and the likely presence of both reservoir and source within the Company's blocks. Combined with the existing prospect portfolio within the blocks, this has improved Global's views on the overall prospectivity of the acreage. The Company is therefore discussing with the Namibian authorities terms for the continuation of the Licence beyond the current extension of the Initial Exploration Period. The Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Jupiter Petroleum (Namibia) Limited, remains operator with an 85% interest in the two blocks, with partners NAMCOR and Bronze Investments Pty Ltd holding 10% and 5% respectively, both as carried interests.