CAMAC Energy, the U.S.-based hydrocarbon developer with a substantial portfolio of onshore and offshore interests in Africa, including their deep water oil and gas leases offshore of Nigeria, reported today that the company has inked an agreement with noted gravity, magnetic total field, magnetic gradient, and radiometric survey specialists, Sander Geophysics Limited (SGL), to handle geophysical surveying at the company’s onshore Blocks L1B and L16 in Kenya.
Senior VP of E&P for CAK, Segun Omidele, expressed supreme confidence in the deal struck with SGL and called the agreement a major milestone for the company’s Kenyan operations. Not only will this analytical work more than cover the bases set out for the first exploration period, it will enable the company to rationalize a fully-optimized implementation for their forthcoming 2D seismic program, thanks to the clear flagging of basement structures in the geology, as well as faults, and features like the intrusions and intra-sedimentary volcanic layers.
SGL has a battery of airborne gravity and magnetic geophysical work all lined up for the massive, approximately 4,709 square mile Block L1B, as well as for the 1,394 square mile Block L16. Such an effort will far outstrip initial survey requirements slated for the first exploration period, and CAK is extremely confident in the results that will come out of this 57-year veteran global provider of airborne geophysical surveying. Indeed, SGL has quite a reputation in the sector for doing both petroleum and mineral exploration work like this. The firm has seen operational activity on every continent this planet has to offer, including Antarctica, often shrugging off the difficulties of climate and locale via the superior skill of its employees and an obvious mastery of the fundamental aircraft and technical logistics required. The Ottawa-based SGL is well-known throughout the sector for their specially modified fixed-wing aircraft, as well as helicopter-executed digital elevation modeling, driven by output from the firm’s scanning LiDAR (light detection and ranging) systems, in conjunction with radar and laser profiler datasets.
We are looking at a Q2 2013 timetable for kick off by SGL on the surveying, with analytical results from the data collection coming back the following quarter, and markets will be eager to get a more detailed look at the potential of CAK’s considerable acreage position in underexplored Kenya at that time. There are four huge sedimentary basins in Kenya and even now the level of activity is nowhere near capacity, so CAK has plenty of room to expand here despite the influx in recent years of major sector players. CAK has signed production sharing contracts with the Kenyan Ministry of Energy (named operator, 100% net interest, Kenyan government option for up to 20% development participation), and when you stack the potential here up against the company’s successful offshore interests in the western part of the continent (Oyo Field in Nigeria and Gambia’s A2 and A5 concessions), it is little wonder that the investment community is buzzing about CAMAC Energy.
For more information on CAMAC Energy, visit www.CamacEnergy.com
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