Independent oil and gas company PetroNor E&P has entered into an agreement to farm-out 100% of its participating interest in the Sinapa and Esperança licenses offshore Guinea-Bissau to an SPV owned by Apus Energy DMCC – a subsidiary of energy firm, Petromal – for a payment of up to $85 million.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023 and will be subject to Government approval of a license extension, the assignment of interests and operatorship, as well as other customary conditions for transactions of this kind.
“Today’s agreement marks an important milestone for PetroNor and for Guinea-Bissau as completion of the transaction will add significantly to PetroNor’s balance sheet and lead to the drilling of an exploration well during the first half of 2024,” stated Interim CEO of PetroNor E&P, Jens Pace.
According to the agreement, the payment will be divided into a contribution towards past license costs of at least $25 million upon completion with a further entitlement of two earnout payments of $30 million per license.
Situated in Block 2 and Blocks 4A and 5A, respectively, the Sinapa and Esperança licenses cover a combined area of 4,963km2, and were purchased by PetroNor E&P from Swedish oil and gas company Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB in 2021. As a result, PetroNor assumed operatorship and an interest of 78.57% in both licenses, which boast prospective resources of approximately 467 million barrels of oil.