Pura Vida Energy has announced that it is currently in talks with industry partners regarding the farm-out of the Nkembe block, offshore Gabon.

According to the company, farm-out discussions are ongoing with partners that are now focused on commercialization of the Loba Complex in the near term. Financing of the forward work program for the Nkembe block relies on securing a farm-in partner as Pura Vida’s strategy for the commercialization of Loba has the potential to change the Company from an Explorer to a Producer in the near term.

The company has announced a presentation that outlines its strategy to establish near term value through a series of facilitators including farm-out, drilling and development.Latest work, which includes a fully costed Concept and Feasibility Study (CFS) for the accelerated development of the Loba Oil Field, as well as the positive economic and technical evaluations, have revived plans for the appraisal and development of the Loba Oil Field in Pura Vida’s 80%-owned Nkembe block. Loba has an 81% chance of commercial success and the CFS will allow first production within a year of a successful production test.

The Australian company in the presentation noted that there is an opportunity to take advantage of the current low cost environment, adding that the economic model for the Loba Oil Field and Loba Complex shows the commercial viability of the project at this current low oil prices regime as well as the potential for significant value creation.

“We are pleased to finally share the results of this substantial body of work completed by our team in respect of the Nkembe block in Gabon. This is an exciting opportunity with a focus on the known Loba oil discovery near existing infrastructure. Being a known oil accumulation, this has a much lower risk profile than our previous exploration efforts. We are looking to prioritize a farm-out to commercialize the Loba discovery with a view to accelerating the development timetable to first production to generate early cash flow,” Damon Neaves (photo), Pura Vida’s Managing Director, told Energy-pedia.

Anita Fatunji