NEWS | Wednesday, 01 August 2007

Global Petroleum seeks extension of Maltese oil exploration agreement

Australian oil exploration company Global Petroleum announced in its quarterly report yesterday that its joint venture partner, German oil and gas company RWE Dea AG, is seeking to confirm a revised time frame for the Exploration Study Agreement (ESA) covering blocks 4 and 5 of Area 3 off the east of Malta with the Maltese government.
Global said this was dependent upon the timing of obtaining a specialised vessel and carrying out a microbial/geochemical investigation on sea bottom samples during 2007.
The agreement was previously extended to March 31 along with RWE’s farming agreement.
RWE, which has farmed into Global’s interest in the Exploration Study Agreement covering Blocks 4 & 5, has the right to earn up to a total 70 per cent interest if the parties enter into a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with the Malta Government and RWE commits to the drilling of a well following the completion of the seismic programme phase.
In June last year Global entered into a joint venture with RWE enabling the latter to farm into Block 4 and 5 in exchange for RWE covering Global’s share of the costs of the seismic programme and potential exploration well, with Global retaining 80 per cent interest and RWE the remaining 20 per cent interest.