(Ecofin Agency) - Bowleven Plc in its preliminary results and operational update for the year ended 30 June 2016, announced that it is making headway on developing its offshore Cameroonian assets in spite of losses.

The company said two appraisal well locations had been decided with its partners on the Etinde play in Cameroon as they target extra volumes of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas from Etinde. Bowleven holds 20% interest in the licence, Lukoil has 30%, SNH with 20% while NewAge holds the operatorship and 30% of Etinde.

Drilling to progress once joint venture development alignment has been achieved, the company said on its website.

“We have continued to make steady progress towards our objective of converting resources to reserves in Cameroon, despite the challenging macro environment. The Etinde operator, NewAge has prioritized advancing development plans with the government over planned appraisal drilling activity. Bowleven remains eager to drill the two wells as soon as practicable, being covered for its share of drilling/testing via the $40million net carry from the Etinde farm-out transaction,” Kevin Hart (photo), Bowleven’s chief executive, said.

The Edinburg-based company also announced that exploration wells had been completed and later suspended on the Bonomo licence onshore Cameroon. It said it was in negotiations with Cameroonian authorities regarding the award of a provisional exploitation authorization (PEA) for Bonomo. Bowleven has given up frontier exploration acreage in Kenya and Zambia in an effort to tighten its portfolio.

“The macroeconomic environment of prolonged lower oil prices has had sector-wide repercussions. The group’s strong balance sheet including $100million in cash and no debt or outstanding work programme commitments means it is well positioned to manage the challenges faced by the industry and to exploit opportunities as they arise. We have extensively screened multiple opportunities and the search is continuing. This is a time-consuming exercise that demands proper rigor be applied to the evaluation of any potential transaction to ensure value is created for shareholders whilst protecting our key differentiating feature of balance sheet strength,” he added.

Anita Fatunji