SDX Energy in its operational update on activities on the Manatee-1X exploration well in Bakassi West, Cameroon, announced that it is withdrawing from the concession.

The company held a 35% working interest in the concession, located in the shallow water in the Rio Del Rey Basin, offshore Cameroon.

Dana Petroleum, the operator of the concession demanded for a one-year extension in order to conclude the study of the results of the well, which came across a 26 metres of gas bearing section of varying quality all through the wellbore. The wellbore situations did not permit the procurement of a complete suite of logging tools in the deeper sections of the hole and this made the study of the lower intervals in the well inconclusive.

However, authorities in the country did not approve the operator’s request of a one-year extension and in its place, asked the Company to move into the second exploration period, which requires more well obligations but SDX refused. 

“The Bakassi West concession is not a core asset to our business and we do not believe it would have been prudent to continue investing in it.  The Bakassi West concession was acquired by SDX in October 2015 as a result of a merger between Sea Dragon Energy and Madison PetroGas. Whilst the concession was an exciting opportunity, it was fundamentally non-core, and our subsequent exit allows the Company to focus all of our efforts on growing our high margin production business in our core assets across Egypt. We are continuing to move forward as planned with our operations in Egypt and I look forward to reporting on our progress in subsequent updates,” Paul Welch (photo), CEO of SDX told Energy-pedia.

Anita Fatunji