Clontarf Energy, oil producer and explorer, has announced that all outstanding issues have been resolved with Ghana’s state oil company GNPC on Tano 2A Block
“The signed petroleum agreement is now being sent to the Cabinet. All legal proceedings have been dropped and all issues resolved to our satisfaction,” said the company.
In addition, Clontarf has provided financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2018.
“After a period of slow progress, Ghana's current NPP Government has galvanised the licensing effort. The administration is pro-development, and actively reviewing historic Petroleum Agreements, with a stated focus on early exploration, discoveries and output. During 2018 the Ghanaian Ministry of Energy and the Ghanaian National Petroleum Commission considered the current re-application by Pan Andean Resources Ltd (30 per cent Petrel, 60 per cent Clontarf, 10 per cent local interests) over the original Tano 2A licence block acreage in the prospective Tano Basin, West Africa.”
Lithium in Bolivia
Lithium from salt pan deposits is in high demand. The Clontarf Energy plc group has long been interested in Lithium evaporates for high-performance batteries. From 2008 through 2010 we operated a study joint venture on the world's largest salt-lake deposit in Bolivia. The technical results were encouraging but progress was frustrated by political developments.
Equatorial Guinea 2017 Bid Round
Clontarf Energy was awarded Block 18 (EG-18) in the Equatorial Guinea June 2017 Bid Round. The successful bidders then entered into discussions to finalise fiscal terms, work programme and bonus details.
Clontarf has long been interested in Cretaceous sands plays in the Atlantic Margin. Though its current output is small, Equatorial Guinea's largely unexplored deep-water potential is among some of the most intriguing in West Africa. EG-18 is part of the Northern Rio Muni Basin, which Clontarf had previously studied. Our initial interest is principally in Cretaceous sands plays, particularly a distal fan and turbidite channels visible on historic seismic. This has proven a prolific play elsewhere along the Atlantic Margin and offers potential in Equatorial Guinea.
Block 18 covers approximately 5,056 sq km of undrilled deepwater acreage with several play types. Clontarf Energy's focus was on working on large structural and/or stratigraphic trap targets - given the deep water depth and uncertainties.
“A detailed analysis of the available 3D seismic data by our technical team during 2018 raised new issues: we struggled with an apparent lack of trap formation and clear structures of adequate size in order to justify deep-water exploration. There are certainly drill targets, but they may be marginal given the water and rock depth - even at current oil prices. Overall, seismic amplitudes gave us limited encouragement, which made us reluctant to commit to major up-front expenditure. Nonetheless, during negotiations, the authorities pressed us to enter into a binding contract to buy historic 3D seismic, at higher than current acquisition costs, including a substantial up-front payment.”
“While Block-18 remains potentially prospective, we could not justify this substantial up-front expenditure for limited licence access on terms which were by then in excess of market rates for this standard and vintage of data.”
