Maurel & Prom: thinking bigger
M&P boosts exploration assets
French explorer Maurel & Prom (M&P) said it had boosted its exploration acreage in Colombia and Tanzania.
M&P said its wholly owned Colombian subsidiary Hocol had signed an exploration contract with the ANH hydrocarbons agency, covering the Muisca area about 100 kilometres north-east of Bogota.
The contract covers about 2368 square kilometres in the Eastern Cordillera region, which M&P will operate with a 100% stake. Under the deal, M&P is committed to shooting 100 kilometres of 2D seismic and drilling one exploration well within the next two years.
In Tanzania, M&P said it had farmed in to a 50% stake in Dominion Oil & Gas’s onshore Mandawa Production Sharing Contract. The Mandawa block lies just south of M&P’s Bigwa-Rufiji-Mafia Block.
The Mandawa contract, awarded in 2005, covers 6811 square kilometres. In the four-year initial exploration period the contract holder is required to shoot 300 kilometres of 2D seismic and drill two wells, and Dominion has already completed the seismic component, M&P said.
Dominion will continue to operate the contract and has contracted a rig from M&P's Caroil unit to drill the Mihambia-1 exploration well.