Tower Resources Provides Update on Namibian Blocks

Tower Resources  has provided an update on activity in respect of license PEL 96 in Namibia, covering blocks 1910A, 1911 and 1912B .

Tower says it has noted the announcement by Global Petroleum Ltd of updated prospective resource estimates in respect of its license PEL 94, covering block 2011A which is immediately to the South of Tower’s block 1911. Global estimates that its Welwitschia Deep Albian carbonate prospect has Best Estimate unrisked gross prospective resources of 671 million barrels of oil, with a geological chance of success of 17%. Global’s estimate, classified in accordance with the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Petroleum Resources Management System, is based on a reinterpretation of existing 3D data which Global licensed from Namcor, taking into account recent well results in the area, and conducted by Global’s consultant exploration manager who is also a principal of Energy Explorers Ltd.

Tower observes that this figure corresponds to the portion of the prospect on block 2011A, and notes that approximately 25% of the Welwitschia structure lies in block 1911, which is covered by Tower’s license PEL 96. Although this proportion is an estimate made without the details of Global’s detailed reinterpretation, it would imply that the total Best Estimate unrisked gross prospective resources of the Welwitschia Deep prospect’s entire structure would be in the region of 895 million barrels. Of this, approximately 224 million barrels would lie in block 1911, of which approximately 179 million barrels would be attributable to Tower.

To place this into perspective, Albian carbonate and Upper Cretaceous turbidite intervals have also been identified within multiple structural traps across Tower’s Namibian blocks. These reservoirs are proven on block 1911 in the two wells drilled by Norsk Hydro in the mid 1990s, with well 1911/15-1 recovering oil from Albian carbonates as well as penetrating three source rock intervals.

In particular, Tower’s license PEL 96 also includes two other giant structures (identified on the map on our website at the link above as Alpha and Gamma) and four other substantial leads in the Dolphin Graben (identified on the same map as leads A, B, C and D), each of which contain multiple stacked reservoir targets including Albian carbonates and Upper Cretaceous turbidites. Both Alpha and Gamma are interpreted to be giant 4-way dip closured structures with billion-barrel potential analogous to Welwitschia. The Dolphin Graben Leads A, B, C & D, all of which are located directly adjacent to areas with mature source rocks, are estimated individually to range in size from 250 to 686 million barrels of prospective resources (arithmetically summed gross, unrisked, Pmean), based on Tower’s own initial unaudited estimates.

In addition to the structural plays identified above, Tower has also identified significant prospectivity in stratigraphic plays within the Cretaceous and Palaeogene intervals, with potential for deep-water turbidite reservoir interbedded with mature source rocks. These are analogous to plays being explored by others in the Walvis and Orange basins in the South as well as the Namibe basin directly to the North.

Tower is now undertaking further technical evaluation of the leads identified to-date as part of the work programme for the Initial Exploration Period for PEL 96, with focused geological, geophysical, and geochemical analysis aiming to high-grade areas for further data acquisition.

As previously disclosed, Tower received an unsolicited approach from a Major oil company regarding its license PEL 96 in the second half of 2019. That company has told Tower that it remains interested in working on this project, but has not prioritised it during the first half of 2020, and we expect discussions to remain on the back burner in the second half of the year, or at least until the Covid-19 pandemic situation is clearer. This has not affected our own plans for the license, and we await with great interest the outcome of further work, such as Global’s, and also further wells being drilled in Namibia, including Shell’s well on license PEL 39 and Total’s Venus well, all of which will enhance our own basin modelling and prospect evaluation.

Jeremy Asher, Tower’s Chairman and CEO, commented:

“At present we are concentrating on getting our Cameroon farm-out finalised and preparing for Covid-19 conditions to permit us to resume well preparations at Thali, and we hope to update the market with further news about this shortly. But we are also continuing to work on our Namibian license. Even though most of the work is desk-based at this early stage of the Initial Exploration Period, it will be profoundly influenced by the insights we can gain from the physical exploration efforts of other parties, even in other basins in Namibia. We are especially interested in what Global is doing on PEL-94, and note that the amount of 3D data already obtained on the Welwitschia Deep prospect suggests that this might already be close to being drill-ready. If Global is able to drill an early well on PEL 94 targeting the Albian carbonates and Cretaceous turbidites, this would bring extremely valuable insight to Tower on the multiple structures and leads on our PEL 96, and if it is on Welwitschia Deep, then it might also bring an early discovery providing immediate reserves to our Company.”