A reminder for those who don't know why Aminex is rising on the DPRK nuclear treaty ....
09.08.2005
Aminex Signs Up To Explore Most Of North Koreas Oil And Gas Territories In Groundbreaking Production Sharing Agreement
Aminex plc has scored a real first with the signing of a formal production sharing agreement for a large tranche of exploration acreage in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Shares in the company climbed 1.625p to 9.5p on the news.
The signing of an exploration agreement with the secretive North Korean regime - a member of US President George W Bushs infamous axis of evil - marks a real coup for the London-headquartered oil junior. In September 2004 the company signed a twenty-year petroleum agreement with the DPRK, which is anxious to develop its indigenous oil industry. The impoverished country, which is run along a strict communist ideology based on the concept of juche or self reliance, has seen its economy run into real problems, resulting in famine and prolonged power blackouts. It depends on coal and hydropower and imports what oil it uses, around 86,000 barrels per day.
Under the terms of the 2004 deal, Aminex agreed to provide technical and legal expertise to help the DPRK authorities get to grips with their domestic resource base and attract inward investment. In return the British oil company receives a royalty on any new production, a carried interest in any new wells drilled by incoming companies and the right to explore anywhere in the country. Aminex later cemented its relationship with the DPRK by agreeing to take a stake in Kobril, an international natural resource vehicle controlled by the pariah regime.
Since then Aminex has worked hard to get to grips with the existing seismic and well data covering the country and has helped draft a model production sharing agreement. The PSA, made under Swiss law, runs for nine years, divided into three three-year periods, with the work commitments in the first phase including seismic acquisition and the drilling of one exploration well.
At 66,000 sq km, Aminexs PSA covers the greater part of the countrys on and offshore oil and gas prospective territories, including the West Sea offshore basin, a part of the East Sea offshore basin, the onshore Anju basin, the onshore Jaeryong basin and the onshore Pyongyang basin.
This can rightly be considered frontier territory. There has been sporadic exploration in the country over the past 30 years, resulting in some undeveloped discoveries. The West Sea acreage is thought to offer the best near-term production potential. Speaking to oilbarrel.com recently, Aminexs chief executive Brian Hall described the area as an offshoot of the Bohai Bay in China, that countrys largest indigenous source of oil and gas and the scene of recent major discoveries.
The East Sea acreage could also prove very interesting. Its geology is not dissimilar from that of Sakhalin Island, said Hall, referring to the oil and gas rich Russian territory that has attracted multi-billion dollar investments from the worlds supermajors.
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http://www.rmfdevelopment.com/political/NorthKoreaOil.htm
North Korea has significant, but quite unmeasured reserves of offshore
oil. Many countries have lined up to help them extract it but little
oil drilling has yet to be done. The official DOE summary of North
Korean oil is probably out of date. The kimsoft.com estimate talks
about 10 billion tons. A ton contains 7.33 barrels of oil so 7.33 * 10
billion = 73 billion barrels. For a country about the size of
Pennsylvania, this counts as a lot.