06.03.2006
FirstAfrica Finds Oil Column In Gabon But Investors Await News Of Financing
Results, albeit incomplete, are in from FirstAfrica Oils first well on the East Orovinyare oilfield offshore Gabon and the preliminary news looks positive for the cash-strapped AIM-quoted oil firm. The EOV-4 appraisal was targeting the eastern flank of the East Orovinyare structure and encountered a larger than expected oil column (165 ft against the forecast 128 ft) in the Batanga Sandstone reservoir. The well also found unexpected oil shows in the deeper Anguille Formation, which will require further testing.
A drill stem test recovered light oil (37.5 degree API) from the Batanga but mechanical difficulties impeded an oil flow test. Without the reassurance of a flowrate, to give some indication of reservoir performance, investors are unlikely to get over-excited about the EOV-4 well result: recent events will have left many cautious about AIM-quoted companies and their West African E&P projects.
Even so, this looks like good news for FirstAfrica. It has suspended the well (the rig has moved onto another contract) and will now analyse the downhole results and recovered samples. Preliminary results certainly do not appear to conflict with its plans to proceed with development drilling in April, when the Adriatic VI jack-up is due to arrive on the EOV field for a hundred day, three-well contract. The aim here is to achieve first oil before year-end.
This is ambitious stuff and, if successful, would move the company into a different league from some of its AIM peers, with production, cash flows and a credible track record as an operator. But this ambition will falter unless FirstAfrica backs up the 15.5 million it raised via an unsecured loan earlier in February with a second fundraising. The company must raise a further 22.3 million (US$39 million) by the end of April to fund its commitments in Gabon.
This money would give the company the means to fulfill its commitments on the East Orovinyare field until the end of the first quarter of 2007, by which time the company expects to become cash positive as the oil flows bring in a steady income. Failure to secure this cash will mean the company will be unable to continue to trade. And this is the minimum the company is seeking to raise: in all, it hopes to raise up to 32 million (US$56 million).
The EOV field was discovered by Marathon in the late 1990s but abandoned when the oil price slumped to US$10 per barrel, rendering the project unworkable. Current oil prices - and a small companys low overheads - have reversed the economics. The field is reckoned to hold 2P reserves of 13.2 million barrels of recoverable oil and there is also upside potential with three undrilled prospects lying within in a 10 km radius of the deposit. It has been covered by 3D seismic and seen the drilling of three wells, two of which remain suspended.
The company plans to drill three development wells over the spring and summer to complete a six well development model connected via an infield flow line to a floating storage unit. These plans are contingent on the company completing the Stage 2 fundraising. Investors will be watching with interest
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