Aegean Energy SA, an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company with a Mediterranean and North African Basin Focus, has reached a farm in agreement with Groundstar Resources Egypt for a 70% working interest and operatorship of the West Kom Ombo (WKO) Block, located in South Central Dessert of Upper Egypt approximately 100km west of Aswan.
p>Aegean Energy SA, an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company with a Mediterranean and North African Basin Focus, has reached a farm in agreement with Groundstar Resources Egypt for a 70% working interest and operatorship of the West Kom Ombo (WKO) Block, located in South Central Dessert of Upper Egypt approximately 100km west of Aswan.
Aegean Energy, the only operator of oil and gas in Greece, obtained its first international exploration license in Egypt in December 2009 (East Magawish Block in the Gulf of Suez).
The transaction will take place in two steps; initially Aegean Energy will acquire the 60% interest currently held by Groundstar and subsequently Aegean Energy will obtain a further 10% interest from Groundstar upon completion of a transaction agreed in January 2010 between Groundstar and Karl Thompson Energy (KTE) to exchange Groundstar’s 20% working interest in the West Esh El Mallaha (WEEM) Block in Egypt for a 20% KTE in the WKO Block. The net interests in WKO upon completion of the above transactions will be Aegean Energy 70%, Karl Thomson Energy 20%, and Groundstar 10% which will be carried by Aegean Energy through the first exploration phase.
This agreement is subject to approval by the competent authorities in Egypt.
The West Kom Ombo Block covers an area of 31,520 km² and is one of the largest onshore blocks in Egypt. An independent Resource Evaluation Report carried out for Groundstar by Gustavson Associates in Boulder Colorado, resulted in a gross prospective oil resource estimate of 570 MMbo (P50).
Moreover, 699 km of 2D seismic data have been acquired and processed by Groundstar.
Aegean Energy’s working commitment includes drilling of 2 exploratory wells on the block by September 16, 2011.
Mathios Rigas, president and managing director of Aegean Energy commented: "After the acquisition of our first exploration license in Egypt in December 2009, we are delighted to add to our corporate portfolio of assets the West Kom Ombo Block. We will seek to advance operations in the area with an aim to drill the first exploration well in Q4 2010."
