Heritage Oil Corporation has farmed-in to two onshore exploration licenses in the Mali, in North-West Africa, with a gross area of over 72,000 square kilometres. Heritage will be appointed as Operator.
Wholly owned subsidiaries of Heritage have acquired a 75% working interest in Block 7 and Block 11 from Mali Oil Developments SAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of the public company Centric Energy Corp. In return for earning the working interest Heritage will fund all costs of the obligatory work programs for the next two years in both blocks, comprising the acquisition of 2D seismic and the drilling of one exploration well, at a total estimated cost for the two licenses of between US$15 million and US$20 million.
The two licenses are located in the Gao Graben, a Mesozoic basin that management considers has geological similarities to other Mesozoic interior-rift basins within North Africa, such as the Muglad Basin of Sudan and the Doba Basin of Chad, and Tertiary basins such as the Albert Basin of Uganda. Previous seismic data acquired in Blocks 7 and 11 show the presence of tilted fault-block traps, and indicate up to approximately 4 km of sediments in the geological section.
The acquisition is expected to close within the next three months, subject to certain conditions precedent, including customary governmental approvals which the Company expects will be met.
