09 September 2013, Windhoek – Chariot Oil & Gas has been given a boost for an upcoming exploration campaign in its Central Area blocks off Namibia with a bullish assessment of the resource potential for the frontier play.
The London-listed explorer’s main drilling target, dubbed Prospect B, is now estimated to hold 469 million barrels of unrisked gross mean prospective oil resources, according to the independent audit by Netherland Sewell & Associates.
It also assigns mean resource estimates ranging from 213 million to nearly 1.5 billion barrels to a number of other Upper Cretaceous prospects and leads identified by earlier 3D and 2D seismic data.
Chariot intends to focus its exploration efforts on a lower-risk shallower petroleum system in Upper Cretaceous turbidite reservoirs in the blocks off the south-west African state, which it operates with a 90% stake with partner AziNam on 10%.
The company has now launched a farm-out process to enlist a partner for exploration of the emerging province.
Chief executive Larry Bottomley said the findings of the resource audit showed “the giant scale of the opportunity” that exists within its Namibia acreage.
“Although Namibia remains a frontier and high-risk province, all the play elements of source, reservoir and seal have now been demonstrated and success in our exploration campaign would deliver transformational growth,” he added.
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