JSE- and Aim-listed SacOil on Friday said its Nigerian assets were expected to start producing revenue in 18 to 24 months.

The Africa-focused oil and gas group, which also had operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi and Botswana, pointed out that it would also continue to evaluate opportunities to secure new value-accretive acreage in other established and prolific African hydrocarbon regions and basins.

“The DRC, Malawi, Botswana and Nigerian assets are in varying stages of exploration and appraisal,” SacOil operational VP Bradley Cerff said, adding that he remained confident and optimistic that expenditures on the Nigerian assets would result in reserve addition and, ultimately, hydrocarbon production.

“SacOil’s consultants have reviewed the existing seismic data in more detail and updated their internal understanding of hydrocarbon resources in the area known as OPL 233, and we are optimistic on the contingent resources and potential upside, estimated to be in excess of 20-million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE) gross contingent resources,” he added. 

In addition, SacOil’s joint venture partners and consultants had identified a number of additional prospective leads for subsequent investigation and possible drilling.

Meanwhile, a contract for the environmental-impact assessment (EIA) of the OPL 233 area was awarded to environmental consultancy and management company Tidalflow Nigeria, which completed the wet season sampling on schedule and would undertake the sampling for the dry season this month.

“The contract for seafloor surveying in this area has also been awarded and discussions covering the finalisation of the contract and mobilisation to site are under way,” SacOil said.

Further, the contract for the survey to acquire three-dimensional (3D) ocean bottom cable (OBC) seismic data was awarded to marine geotechnical and offshore technology consultancy Geomarine, with discussions towards the finalisation and mobilisation of the OBC acquisition survey under way. Tenders were also invited for the processing of this data and a preferred contractor had been identified.

Further, seismic and well data had been reinterpreted for the OPL 281 site in Nigeria, which was estimated to have 100 MMBOE gross contingent resources. Similar to OPL 233, SacOil had performed a technical evaluation of the existing two boreholes and the 3D seismic data on the lease.

“Management is satisfied that the current estimate of contingent resources as reported by TRACS may be conservative and, with further evaluation, it is our opinion that the resources may actually be more substantial than initially anticipated,” Cerff said.

Meanwhile, in the DRC, SacOil’s partner-company Total had successfully acquired a concession to conduct exploration in an area known as Block III. Results confirmed the geological trend, observed in the adjacent concessions in Uganda, which were also found to be oil-bearing.

“SacOil envisages the acquisition of a minimum of 400 km of two-dimensional seismic data and anticipates that the seismic acquisition will take place within the next dry season, possibly in the second quarter of 2014 subject to the availability of seismic-acquisition contractors,” the company said.

Further, following the award of Block 1 in Malawi, in December 2012, SacOil was planning an EIA and social-impact assessment (SIA).

“Through initial work and assessments completed, SacOil’s technical team anticipates that the same tertiary rift system, as found in Uganda, could possibly be present in Malawi, which may, therefore, potentially yield deposits of hydrocarbons,” Cerff highlighted.

SacOil was aiming to complete all environmental work by the third quarter of 2014, and initial planning associated with the EIA and SIA were under way in consultation with the Malawi government.

Further, in Botswana, SacOil was collating the geological information available on the petroleum prospectivity of three licences covering an area of about 49 463 m2. A review of this information was under way.