21 February 2015 – Junior explorer Sterling Energy reported Tuesday that it has signed a deal with Murphy Cameroon Ntem Oil Company that will see Murphy transfer its 50-percent interest in, and operatorship of, the Ntem Concession, offshore Cameroon.
The Ntem Concession is a large under-explored block in water depths ranging from 1,312 feet to 6,562 feet in the southern Douala-Rio Muni Badin.
The minimum work obligation for the current phase of the concession was met by the drilling of the Bamboo-1 well in 2014. Sterling said that no consideration is payable by it for the transfer of Murphy’s interest in Ntem and that following completion of the transaction it will hold 100 percent of the concession.
Completion of the transaction remains subject to Cameroon government approval. Sterling Executive Chairman Alastair Beardsall commented in a company statement: “Following the withdrawal of Murphy, Sterling looks forward to working with Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures, the national oil company of Cameroon, to agree a forward plan to progress the exploration of this under-explored block.”
*Rigzone