African Petroleum, Ophir strike production-sharing deal on Ivory Coast projects

Oil and gas exploration company African Petroleum has partnered, through a new production-sharing contract (PSC), with Ophir Oil Energy on several of African Petroleum's projects in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, African Petroleum said on Monday.

Ophir is kicking in an investment of $16.9 million. The PSC makes African Petroleum and Ophir each 45 percent stakeholders, with 10 percent of the stake a block of Ivory Coast projects owned by Petroci (the National Oil Company of Ivory Coast).
Ophir also will pay 10 percent of the cost of drilling for the first exploration in the block.

“We are pleased to have signed this new PSC with Ophir Energy, which brings a wealth of experience and technical expertise to Block CI-513 in Côte d’Ivoire," Jens Pace, African Petroleum's CEO, said. "We look forward to working with Ophir Energy and Petroci to jointly explore the potential of this exciting block. Successful completion of this transaction has been the key priority for the management team, and we believe this transaction endorses our acreage, and importantly, our strategy by highlighting that there remains an industry appetite for world-class exploration of this type, despite the prevailing industry headwinds. We now shift our focus to completion of further deals on our acreage in Senegal and the Gambia.”