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Company Information for Afren Plc
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 LSE; AFR
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Company Statement
Afren is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company that was founded in late 2004 with the vision to become the premier pan-African independent exploration and production company, through a differentiated strategy based on a strong African representation in the Board and management, partnering with indigenous companies, National Oil Companies and Governments as well as finding a solution to the vast untapped gas resources in the Gulf of Guinea.
Afren has established itself as a significant oil and gas producer with operations in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire providing 26,000 working interest boepd of oil, gas and natural gas liquids production. During this time a reserves and contingent resource base of 163 mmboe has been established with additional prospective resources identified of 585 mmboe.
Operations and Technology
Congo (Brazzaville)
La Nouumbi
Afren holds a 14 per cent interest in the La Noumbi permit. The La Noumbi
permit covers 2,830 km2 and lies adjacent to - and on trend with - the world class M'Boundi field, which is currently producing circa 40,000 bopd and has reserves in excess of 250 mmbbl. Several wells have been drilled on the block with good oil shows and/or oil produced on test (the Tie-Tie discovery well in 1982 flowed 1,689 bopd). These wells were drilled without the benefit of modern good quality seismic data. M'Boundi, one of the largest onshore fields discovered in recent years in West Africa is reservoired in the Vandji sandstone and the same play will be a primary target in La Noumbi.
Côte d'Ivoir
Block CI-11
Block CI-11 is located about 13 km offshore and 89 km from Abidjan in water depths ranging from 45 metres to 280 metres. The producing Lion and Panthère fields were discovered by Phillips in the 1980’s and were brought on-stream in 1995 by United Meridian Corporation, later acquired by Ocean Energy Inc. which subsequently merged with Devon.
A significant subsurface, production optimisation and maintenance programme is currently underway on Block CI-11 with the objective of safely delivering incremental production from the existing well base via wireline workovers while establishing the potential for a successful heavy workover/infill drilling programme in 2010.
Block CI-01
Block CI-01 was awarded to United Meridian Corporation in 1994, and is located in the easternmost part of Côte d’Ivoire offshore, adjacent to the international border with Ghana. It extends from near the shoreline to 1,900 metres water depth and is located approximately 52 kilometres from Abidjan. Three separate significant hydrocarbon accumulations have been discovered by exploration drilling in the late 1970’s through the mid 1980’s by Esso and Agip. The Kudu, Eland and Ibex discoveries are estimated to contain in excess of 105 bcf of gas and 8 mmbbls of liquids.
Preparatory work is under way on Block CI-01 to evaluate options to develop the gas and oil reserves already defined on the block. The proposed concept is to develop the Kudu, Eland and Ibex fields with gas tied back via pipeline either to an onshore power station or the Lion Gas Plant, where it will be treated and supplied to the local market. Produced oil will be sold on the international market.
The Lion Gas Plant
The Lion Gas Plant (LGP) was constructed by Ocean Energy in 1998 to improve margins by extracting and selling high value natural gas liquids (NGLs) from gas produced at Block CI-11. Gas production from adjacent Blocks CI-26 and CI-40, operated by Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), was added to the process stream, providing third party tariff revenue from the use of the Block CI-11 pipeline infrastructure, and additional gasoline and butane sales revenue at LGP.
Ghana
Keta Block
The acquisition of the Keta block (which is located offshore Eastern Ghana, positioned at the heart of the Volta River Basin) from Devon Energy Corporation was completed in June 2008. Afren has a 68% working interest and operatorship. he Keta block covers an area of 5,500 km2, in water depths ranging from 1,000m to 2,800m.
Afren agreed a farm down transaction with Mitsui E&P Ghana Keta Limited, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co, thereby successfully reducing its working interest in the Keta Block from 88% to 68%.
Gabon
Ibekelia
Afren has a 20% interest in Ibekelia, in conjunction with Joint Venture (“JV”) partners Sterling and Addax. Negotiations with the government (DGH) have been concluded on the proposed work programme and commercial terms for a PSC on the Ibekelia permit. The JV is in the process of deciding the next steps towards conversion of the Ibekelia permit into a full PSC.
Nigeria
Okoro Setu
The Okoro Field (Okoro) and Setu Field (Setu) are located in OML 112 in shallow water offshore Nigeria, and were originally awarded to Amni - a well established indigenous oil company - in 1993 as part of the Nigerian government's indigenous licensing programme. The fields have combined 2P reserves of 42 million barrels (management case) and 2P Independent Certified reserves of 32 million barrels (NSAI).
Ebok
The Ebok oil field is located in OML 67, 50 km offshore in 135 ft of water in Nigeria's prolific south eastern producing area. The field was discovered by the ExxonMobil / NNPC JV in 1968 (M-QQ1 (Ebok-1)), and two subsequent appraisal wells were drilled in 1970 (Ebok-2 and Ebok-3). Following the recent completion (Dec 2009) by Afren of the Ebok-5 appraisal well in the Ebok Fault Block West, which encountered 377 feet of gross pay in the D1,LD-1E,LD-1F and D2 reservoir sands, the company has upgraded reserves. It its estimate of oil-in-place is 158 million barrels, 72 per cent higher than anticipated. The gross technically recoverable estimate for the Fault Block West are now put at 40 million barrels (compared to 25 million barrels pre-drill) with the total oil-in-place number for the whole field now put at 290 millions, of which 93 million barrels are reckoned to be recoverable.
Okwok
Afren has extended its indigenous partnership in Nigeria with Oriental and formed its first Nigerian partnership with Addax, having agreed to farm-in to and jointly develop the Okwok Field (“Okwok”).
Okwok is an undeveloped oil field located in OML 67, 50 km offshore in 132 ft of water and 15 km East of the Afren/Oriental owned Ebok development. The field was discovered by the ExxonMobil / NNPC JV in 1967 (Okwok-1), and two subsequent appraisal wells were drilled in 1968 (Okwok-2 and Okwok-3) but not production tested. The wells encountered oil in the LD1and D2 series of reservoirs with over 100 ft of oil pay logged in the Okwok-2 well at the D2 level plus multiple 50 ft oil bearing sections in the LD1 in Okwok-1 and Okwok-2.
Ofa
The Ofa Field (Ofa) was awarded to Independent Energy Limited (IEL) - a well established indigenous oil company - in the 2003 Nigerian Marginal field round. Ofa is an undeveloped oil field in OML 30, located onshore in the Northern Niger Delta. The field was initially discovered by Shell (Ofa-1) and subsequently appraised by the Ofa-2 well. Ofa is covered by good quality 3D seismic data and consists of up to eight oil bearing reservoir intervals in the Agbada Formation between 6,670 and 7,280 feet. A recent independent assessment by Gaffney, Cline & Associates estimates mean Stock Tank Oil Initially in Place (STOIIP) of up to 150 million barrels. Ofa is located close to existing infrastructure and a number of producing fields.
OPL907
The licences are located in the Anambra Basin, onshore Nigeria - the second most prospective basin in Nigeria - with estimated remaining gas resources in excess of 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. However, the basin remains largely unexplored with only 30 wells drilled to date leading to six discoveries. The two licences cover an area totalling over 3,500 km2.
OPL917
The licences are located in the Anambra Basin, onshore Nigeria - the second most prospective basin in Nigeria - with estimated remaining gas resources in excess of 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas. However, the basin remains largely unexplored with only 30 wells drilled to date leading to six discoveries. The two licences cover an area totalling over 3,500 km2.
Geographical Spread
Nigeria, São Tomé & Príncipe JDZ, Gabon, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana
Board of Directors and Key Management
| The Board | |
| Egbert Imomoh | Chairman |
| Osman Shahenshah | Chief Executive |
| Shahid Ullah | Chief Operating Officer |
| Constantine Ogunbiyi | Executive Director |
| Peter Bingham | Non-Executive Director |
| John St. John | Non-Executive Director |
| Ennio Sganzerla | Non-Executive Director |
| Toby Hayward | Non-Executive Director |
| Senior Management | |
| Jack McFarland | Director of Operations |
| Patrick Cherlet | Commercial Director |
| Iain Wright | Director of Technical |
| Andrew Olleavant | Head of EHSS |
| Jeremy Whitlock | Group Financial Controller |
| Galib Virani | Head of Acquisitions and Investor Relations |
| Shirin Johri | Group General Counsel |
| Faiz Imam | Head of Gas & Business Development Manager |
| Shirin Johri | Group General Counsel |
Company AddressKinnaird House
|
Additional Address/Key ContactAfren Energy Resources - Nigeria |
Nominated BrokersJefferies International Ltd | Nominated AdvisorsJefferies International Ltd |
Major Shareholders
| Lansdowne Partners | 10.91 |
| GLG Partners | 4.88 |
| Credit Suisse Securities | 4.89 |
| Standard Life | 8.13 |
| Investec | 7.11 |
| Morgan Stanley | 3.56 |
| Deutsche | 3.01 |
Related News
28/01/10 - Afren Adds Another Piece To Its Planned Production Hub In Nigeria With Farm-In To OML11513/01/10 - Afren Rises Again As Ebok-6 Exceeds Pre-Drill Expectations
01/10/09 - Afren Still Setting A Cracking Pace As It Develops Its West African Assets
16/04/09 - Afren Eyes Move To The Main Board As It Raises US$126 Million To Ensure Fast-Track Development Of Ebok
07/04/09 - Afren Eyes “Super Independent” Status In Africa But Investors Seek Reassurance On Financing Of Ebok Project
29/12/08 - Afren Grows Production Base But Loses Dr Rilwanu Lukman To Nigerian Politics
Most Recent Statement
28/01/10 - Nigerian Acquisition28/01/10 - Operational Update
27/01/10 - Notification of Major Interest in Shares
12/01/10 - successful completion of the Ebok-6 appraisal well
15/12/09 - Block Listing
10/12/09 - Significant Upgrade to Ebok Volumetrics