Business
Ethiopian PSA signed
Ethiopian PSA signed.
About this update from Pacsco Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"\n White Nile Limited\n16 January 2008\n\n\n White Nile Ltd / Ticker: WNL / Index: AIM / Sector: Oil & Gas\n\n\n16 January 2008\n\n White Nile Ltd ('White Nile' or 'the Company')\n Production Sharing Agreement signed in Ethiopia\n\n\nWhite Nile Ltd, the AIM listed oil and gas exploration company, has signed a\nProduction Sharing Agreement ('PSA') with the Government of Ethiopia for a\n29,000 sq km block in the Southern Rift Basin in south-western Ethiopia. Under\nthe terms of the PSA, White Nile has received sole rights for the exploration,\ndevelopment and production of petroleum in the contract area in return for\nsatisfying various development commitments.\n\n\nThe PSA follows a two year Joint Study Agreement ('JSA') with the Ethiopian\nGovernment's Petroleum Operations Department of the Ministry of Mines over the\nprospective East African rift system in the southwest of the country.\nGeophysical and geological work, primarily in the Omo River area to the north of\nLake Turkana, has confirmed the presence of deep potential hydrocarbon bearing\nsedimentary basins within the JSA area. The prognosis by the Company and its\nadvisors is that the contract area is sited at an intersection between a\nsouth-eastern extension of the petroliferous Cretaceous and early Tertiary\nbasins of Southern Sudan, in particular the Muglad rift system and the younger\nEast African rift system, which is proving petroliferous in Uganda as underlined\nby Tullow Oil Plc's recent progress.\n\n\nUnder the PSA, the Government of Ethiopia has granted the sole right to White\nNile to explore, develop and produce petroleum in the contract area. There is an\ninitial Exploration Period of four years from the date of execution, and a\nDevelopment Period and Production Period of 25 years from the date of adoption\nof the development plan. During the initial Exploration Period, White Nile is\nrequired to make a minimum expenditure of $6,000,000 for seismic operations and\na minimum expenditure of $8,000,000 for drilling operations. White Nile plans to\nbegin seismic operations in Q4 2008 prior to which it will conduct extensive\ngeological field work and preparation for the geophysical programme.\n\n\nWhite Nile Chairman Phil Edmonds said, 'Following the highly successful JSA with\nthe Petroleum Operations Department of the Ministry of Mines, I am very excite...