Oman-based privately-owned company Petrogas E&P has farmed into Oil Search’s Area A in Egypt’s Eastern Desert.
Petrogas will earn 30% of Area A by making a cash payment and reimburse 30% of past costs on the Block, and carry Oil Search’s 70% share of costs for the next three exploration wells and any two further wells.
Oil Search acquired a 100% interest in Area A in 2005. Since then, the company has optimized production from a number of mature fields. An exploration program started recently with the spudding of the West Zeit-X1 well.
“This farm down represents part of an active and ongoing portfolio management program within our Middle East/North African (MENA) assets, to balance the risk and rewards. The transaction highlights the substantial value that exists in our MENA portfolio,” said Peter Botten, managing director of Oil Search, which retains 70% in Area A.

(Upstream Online)