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Oman Masirah Block on track for the first oil by year-end

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MUSCAT, AUG 20 - Rex International Holding Limited, the majority shareholder in Masirah Oil Limited (MOL) — which has a 100 per cent interest in the offshore Block 50 enveloping Masirah Island — says it is on track to bringing its landmark ‘GA South Discovery’ — the first of its kind off Oman’s eastern seaboard — into production before the end of this year. Singapore-listed Rex International — well-known for its proprietary Rex Virtual Drilling technology — has a 92.65 per cent shareholding in Masirah Oil Limited, the license holder of Block 50 (also known as ‘Masirah Block’) under an Exploration & Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) signed with Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas.


The reaffirmation of its commitment to Block 50 follows the successful monetisation of its Norway assets, which helped “recharge” the company’s “war chest”, in turn boding well for its strategy to put its Oman discovery into production, said Rex in a statement.


Måns Lidgren, Chief Executive Officer, stated: “Although we achieved discoveries in Oman and Norway respectively, this monetisation strategy could not be executed during the oil price rout which started in 2014 until early this year when an opportunity to divest arose. While we will continue with this proven strategy for our operations in Norway, our plan for value creation in Oman remains to achieve first oil by end- 2019.”


The GA South discovery dates back to February 4, 2014, when Masirah Oil announced a first-ever hydrocarbon find in the 17,000 sq km concession off the east coast. A second exploration well drilled in the concession had successfully reached the well target depth of more than 3,000 metres into the Cambrian formation.


“Hydrocarbons were discovered in several formations with good oil sample extracted. The oil discovery is significant as it is the first offshore discovery east of


Oman, after 30 years of exploration activity in the area and won the ‘Offshore Discovery of the Year’ award,” said Rex International in its 2018 Annual Report.


“During a 48-hour test, hydrocarbons were flowed to the surface and the well achieved a restricted flow rate of 3,500 barrels per day of light oil of high quality without water production from a sandstone reservoir of excellent quality. In 2017, the Karamah#1 well which was drilled identified a 5-metre oil bearing interval on the wireline logs in a carbonate reservoir, further confirming the presence of a working petroleum system in the block,” it further stated.


An evaluation of the GA South discovery resulted in a positive feasibility report concluding that development of the reservoir would be commercially attractive, the company said, citing also strong support from the Omani authorities for “this possible first offshore development on the Arabian Sea part of Oman”.


“The work was taken further into a concept selection phase, concluding with the invitation of several contractors to bid for delivery and operations of the production equipment. At the time of writing, negotiations with selected contractors are on-going with the view to start production by end-2019,” it added.


MOL is also 2.35 per cent held by Petroci, the National Oil Company of the Ivory Coast (also known as Côte D`Ivoire) and 5 per cent held by Schroder & Co Banque SA.


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