White Nile takes aim in Kenya
UK-based Africa player White Nile has taken a 49% stake in Kenyan company
Camec, giving it access to Camec’s production sharing contract with the
Kenyan government covering 25,000 square kilometre Block 11 in the
north-west of the African country.
In return, White Nile will pay for a 49% stake of past and present development
costs on the block, the company said in its annual results statement.
Camec is a unit of the UK’s Central African Mining and Exploration Programme.
White Nile said Block 11was adjacent to its existing PSC in Ethiopia and
directly abutted the Kenya-Sudan border. The area includes the Turkana
depression and the Gatome and Lotikipi sedimentary basins, it said.
White Nile signed an agreement with the Southern Sudan government to develop
the 67,000 square kilometre Block Ba. However, the company has been
prevented from developing the block since Southern Sudan President Salva
Kiir ordered drilling to cease at its first well, the wildcat Kedalai-1.
The company said it was still awaiting final clarification from the Juba
government that it would hold a 22.5% stake in an enlarged Block B,
including the former blocks Ba, Bb and Bc.
The company said decision making had been affected by volatile relations
between the Southern and Northern Sudan governments.
In January, White Nile signed a production sharing contract with Ethiopia
covering 30,000 square kilometres in the southern rift basin.
White Nile chairman Phil Edmonds said the company planned to build a regional
portfolio.
The company said it was producing no revenues and reported a pre-tax loss of
£799,000 ($1.6 million), up from £699,000 in 2006.
26 March 2008 05:45 GMT
| last updated:
26 March 2008 05:45 GMT
Latest jobs
