CAMEROON: Victoria Oil & Gas Receives One Year Extension of the Matanda Block licence

Victoria Oil & Gas has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun S.A. has received, as operator, approval from the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development for the extension of the Matanda Block licence.

The exploration phase of the licence has been extended by one year from 17 December 2021. This has been approved by the Minister and the associated Arrêté (Decree) has been received.

GDC was assigned 75% ownership and became operator of the Matanda PSC in December 2018 with Afex Global Limited (AFEX) holding the remaining 25%.  Société Nationale Des Hydrocarbures (“SNH”) has a 25% back in right after an Exploitation License is granted.  The 1,235 square kilometre block Matanda Block is adjacent to GDC’s Logbaba concession and offers several monetisation options for gas discoveries.

The Company’s estimate of Prospective Resources remains unchanged from those previously reported, namely 1,196 Bcf in the Matanda Licence (onshore), the onshore being the area of initial focus.

The results of a rigorous prospect evaluation, including significant weighting on ESG elements of the site and operation, led to the selection of the Marula prospect for the first well, the largest of the onshore, Tertiary-aged prospects with internally estimated unrisked P_mean Prospective Resource of 69 Bcf, and better than 40% geological chance of success.

Using the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), coupled with the addition of ESG issues to the prospect evaluation table, resulted in a well location that is on Government-owned, late life plantation land, and over 3km km from any dwellings.  The site is also away from areas of vulnerable Mangrove forestation which conservationists are working hard to protect in the coastal areas on the Matanda Block.

At the date of this release, many of the long lead items have been ordered and a short list of eight suitable rigs has been drawn up and an Invitation to Tender issued with bids due early next year. The total drilled depth (TD) of the first well will be less than 1,300m, and it will be vertical, so a trailer-mounted rig of modest power (1,000 HP) will suffice. As there are no other onshore drilling operations in Cameroon, the rig will need to be sourced from overseas. The current schedule shows a Q2 2022 spud date, subject to finalization of the costings and the necessary funding being available.

Commenting today Roy Kelly, CEO of VOG, said:

“We are extremely pleased to have received this extension for another year and, once again, we thank the Minister and SNH for expediting this extension. The first well will be in the highly prospective onshore area where nearby wells in a similar play (in the contiguous Bomono license) underwent extended well tests and have significantly derisked these shallower plays. I am particularly pleased with the role played by our ESG team in influencing the selection of well locations mindful of human and natural habitats around the wellsite. 

We face our usual challenge of mobilizing land drilling equipment into the country, but most of the rigs on our shortlist are in the region.”