26 June 2013, News Wires – Canadian player Westbridge Energy has picked up an additional four blocks off Namibia after closing its acquisition of a 75% stake in Ropat Petroleum Investments.
The Vancouver-based player is set to almost triple its acreage holdings off the South-west African country with the addition of exploration blocks 1910A, 1911A, 1912B and 2011A in the Walvis basin to its portfolio, which already includes its operated Block 1811B.
The deal, for which a value was not disclosed, makes Westbridge the second-largest acreage holder in the prospective yet underexplored basin with 22,484 square kilometres of contiguous turf.
Chief executive Tosan Omatsola said the new blocks host an earlier well that revealed oil shows and its acreage is about 180 kilometres north of a recent technical discovery in the basin that “demonstrates a potentially extensive and working petroleum system between the two wells”.
Westbridge will operate the latest licences with a 75% stake, while Ropat will be left with a 15% carried interest with state oil company Namcor on 10%.
“Namibia is experiencing a resurgence of interest from major oil companies and junior explorers alike with near-term, multiple drilling campaigns proximate to Westbridge’s blocks,” Omatsola added.
– Upstream
