The new contract areas are adjacent to the company’s Block 10BB, which hosts the Loperot-1 oil discovery. The existing gravity data on Blocks 12A and 13T suggests that the proven Lokichar basin and other prospective sub-basins and known strong leads in Block 10BB may extend onto these new blocks.
Subject to Kenyan government approvals and TSX Venture Exchange approval, Platform’s interest in Blocks 12A and 13T will be assigned to Africa Oil in consideration for 2.5 million Africa Oil common shares and 1.5 million Africa Oil share purchase warrants exercisable into one common share at a price of $1.50 per share for a period of two years.
The production sharing contracts covering blocks 12A and 13T are dated September, 2008 and have an initial exploration period of three years. The initial minimum exploration expenditures are $3.65m (Block 13T) and $3.6m (Block 12A). The initial exploration work program includes 500km of 2D seismic or 100sqkm of 3D seismic (or a combination thereof) on each block.
Keith Hill, president and CEO of Africa Oil, said: “These two new blocks consolidate our land holdings around Block 10BB located within the highly prospective East Africa Rift Trend. The exploration play is an analogue to the giant East African Tertiary rift-hosted Lake Albert oil discovery made by Tullow and Heritage. We are excited to note that some of our key leads and prospects within Block 10BB extend onto our new blocks, which greatly enhances the exploration play.
“We intend to shoot seismic in the coming months on these new blocks concurrently with our work on Block 10BB. Blocks 13T and 12A comprise an area of over 23,800 km2 which now brings the total gross acreage held by Africa Oil and its partners in East Africa to well over 225,000sqkm.”
