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Company Information for Afren Plc
Company stock charts - 6 Month chart
 AIM; AFR
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Company Statement
A unique African proposition
Afren is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company that was founded in 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.
Since the Initial Public Offering in March 2005, Afren has rapidly expanded its portfolio across six countries: Nigeria, São Tomé & Príncipe JDZ, Gabon, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. The Group is currently producing circa 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from its current portfolio.
Operations and Technology
Afren plc 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, partnering with National Oil Companies and Governments as well as finding a solution to the vast untapped gas resources in the Gulf of Guinea.
Afren has consistently delivered on its differentiated strategy; since the Initial Public Offering in March 2005, Afren has rapidly expanded its portfolio to fifteen assets across six countries: Nigeria, São Tomé & Príncipe JDZ, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Afren has also built a management and advisory team with extensive industry experience in West Africa, and today employs over 180 staff across all disciplines with offices in London, Lagos and Abidjan.
The Company reached the first oil milestone in June 2008 from its Okoro Setu development in Nigeria two years from announcing the financing and production sharing agreement with its partner Amni in 2006 to jointly develop the Okoro and Setu fields located offshore Nigeria in OML112. The Company has now achieved full production of circa 21,000 bopd.
In April 2008, Afren announced an agreement with Oriental Energy Resources Limited to jointly develop the offshore Ebok field which was awarded to Oriental by the ExxonMobil / Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Joint Venture. The venture provides Afren with access to a material discovered undeveloped opportunity, with the potential to add significant reserves and production to Afren’s existing portfolio. The Ebok field has mean estimated oil in place of 118 million barrels of oil, and the Company believes this asset represents a high quality development asset similar to the Okoro Setu project. Afren commenced a two well appraisal drilling programme in Q4 2008 and First Oil is targeted from Ebok in 2010. In addition, the Company has a collaborative agreement with Oriental to access similar discovered undeveloped opportunities from Majors in Nigeria.
A major transformational landmark in Afren’s growth during 2008 is the strategic acquisition of Devon Energy Corporation’s assets in Côte d’Ivoire which includes the producing Block CI-11, the Lion Gas Plant and the undeveloped Block CI-01. Afren now operates, together with partner PETROCI (the National Oil Company of Côte d’Ivoire) a fully integrated gas project that has not only delivered immediate production (approximately 5,200 boepd working interest oil, gas and NGL volumes) and associated revenues but also offers significant upside potential.
The company also has its eyes on West Africa’s fledgling gas development and LNG business. In January 2008, Afren signed a co-operation agreement with E.ON Ruhrgas and African LNG Holdings Limited to investigate the availability and accessibility of gas in Nigeria, with a focus on the Anambra Basin and South Eastern regions. This agreement envisages that the partners will jointly develop, gather and monetise Nigeria's vast untapped gas resources for domestic and export purposes in line with the Nigerian Government's 2008 Gas Master Plan. The Gulf of Guinea in West Africa is estimated to contain over 200 trillion cubic feet of gas, more than 80 per cent of which lies in Nigeria. In March 2008 the company bagged interests in two Anambra Basin licences, OPL 907 and 917, which are home to existing gas and condensate discoveries.
In September 2008 Afren signed another gas monetization MoU, this time with Electricité de France (EDF) and Gasol to examine establishing a gas aggregation joint venture to identify and develop onshore and offshore stranded gas assets in West Africa. The JV will develop gas reserves, construct collection networks to aggregate the reserves and then deliver the gas to a central gas processing hub for domestic use and/or export via LNG.
Elsewhere in Nigeria, the Company is progressing with the development of the Eremor field. Development operations are expected to commence in 2009, with first oil anticipated in 2010. Of particular note is that Netherland Sewell Associates have credited the Eremor field with 4 million barrels of gross 2P recoverable reserves.
In Ghana, the Company has a 68% working interest and operatorship of the Keta Block. The play type is very similar to that successfully proven by recent drilling at the Jubilee and Odum discoveries and this success has confirmed Ghana's emergence as a major hydrocarbon province with world class prospectivity The Company in Q4 2008 completed drilling the Cuda-1x exploration well, the first well to target the Cuda prospect which is estimated to contain 325 mmbbls of mean prospective resources, the well was however plugged and abandoned and did not penetrate the primary Cretaceous objectives which remain of high potential but untested. The Company remains highly optimistic about the exploration potential of the Keta block, where several attractive prospects, in addition to Cuda have been identified.
Despite the credit crunch, Afren has no plans to scale back its portfolio-building activities in Africa. In October 2008 the company entered a three-year strategic alliance with Japanese conglomerate Sojitz to jointly pursue material acquisition opportunities in Africa. To further align interests, Afren agreed to an investment of US$45 million by Sojitz in the form of loan notes. This alliance will enable Afren to take on larger projects on the continent by drawing on the financial muscle of Sojitz. The alliance will run for an initial period of (i) 3 years from the signing date or (ii) the date upon which Sojitz has invested a total of $500 million in the Joint Acquisitions. The Company also has a robust financial position with cash balances at 30 June 2008 of US$269 million and net debt of US$13 million.
The Company is currently producing circa 25,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from its current portfolio of producing assets in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, with significant future growth projected from current development projects together with a high impact exploration campaign and an active new ventures pipeline.
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 |
| Guy Pas | Non-Executive Director |
| Peter Bingham | Non-Executive Director |
| John St. John | Non-Executive Director |
| Senior Management | |
| Patrick Cherlet | Director of Operations |
| Iain Wright | Technical Director |
| Nick Johnson | Head of Exploration and New Ventures |
| Jeremy Whitlock | Group Financial Controller |
| Galib Virani | Head of Acquisitions and Investor Relations |
| Shirin Johri | Group General Counsel |
Company AddressKinnaird House
|
Additional Address/Key Contact
Investor Relations Galib Virani Head of Investor Relations Email: IR@afren.com |
Capital446, 991,859 of Ordinary Shares outstanding |
Nominated BrokersJefferies International Ltd | Nominated AdvisorsJefferies International Ltd |
Major Shareholders
| Lansdowne Partners | 10.68 |
| GLG Partners | 4.87 |
| Wellington Management | 4.46 |
| Standard Bank | 4.29 |
| JP Morgan Chase & Co | 4.48 |
| FMR Corp | 3.62 |
| Deutsche Bank | 3.97 |
| Credit Suisse Securities | 6.61 |
Related News
16/04/09 - Afren Eyes Move To The Main Board As It Raises US$126 Million To Ensure Fast-Track Development Of Ebok07/04/09 - 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
06/04/09 - Preliminary Results02/03/09 - Notice of Results
03/02/09 - Ebok Appraisal Drilling Programme
04/12/08 - Shareholding in the Company
01/12/08 - Total Voting Rights
24/11/08 - Price Monitoring Extension