Nigeria-based Oranto Petroleum has signed two Production Sharing Agreements for the Ngassa Shallow and Deepwater Plays of Lake Albert in Uganda, holding a 100 percent stake in both licenses.
Oranto, one of Africa’s strongest independents focused on frontier exploration, entered the agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development for the Republic of Uganda and has committed to a first exploration period of two years. A second period would be for a maximum of two years, with a minimum work program for both periods that would include acquiring and reprocessing 2D and 3D seismic data and amplitude versus offset (AVO) studies. A renewal would also include drilling at least one exploration well.
“We are excited to enter this agreement with the Government of Uganda and look forward to a successful exploration period,” said Prince Arthur Eze, Chairman of Oranto Petroleum, in a press release. “Lake Albert is home to some prime petroleum acreage and we hope to make a valuable contribution to the country and its people.”
The Ngassa Play, comprised of 410 square kilometers of both shallow and deepwater areas, is in the southern part of Lake Albert. Already, Lake Albert is home to major oil discoveries, with recoverable crude reserves estimated between 1.4 billion and 1.7 billion barrels of oil. The first discovery in Lake Albert was made in 2006 by Tullow Oil, and production is expected in 2020, after Uganda builds a pipeline to export the crude.
