TIDMTRP
RNS Number : 8129A
Tower Resources PLC
07 February 2022
7 February 2022
Tower Resources plc
Namibia Update and statement regarding the Graff-1 exploration
well
Tower Resources plc (the "Company" or "Tower" (TRP.L, TRP LN),
the AIM-listed oil and gas company with a focus on Africa, is
pleased to provide an update on activity in respect of license PEL
96 in Namibia, covering blocks 1910A, 1911 and 1912B (the "Namibian
Blocks") and in particular the recent news regarding the
Shell-operated Graff-1 exploration well.
Tower has noted the announcements by the National Petroleum
Corporation of Namibia ("Namcor"), and also operator Shell Namibia
Upstream B.V. ("Shell"), and partner QatarEnergy, confirming that
the Graff-1 well on PEL 39 has made a discovery in both its primary
and secondary targets, and proved a working petroleum system for
light oil in the Orange Basin, offshore Namibia. The partners'
announcements say that they intend to perform further laboratory
work and also intend to drill a second exploration well, to
determine the size and recoverable potential of the discovery. The
Graff-1 well was drilled, apparently without incident and in around
50 days, to a total depth of 5,376 metres in water depths of
approximately 2,000 metres.
Other press reports have indicated that the well has been
drilled in a slope channel system with a startigraphic trap, and
has encountered at least one 60-metre layer of hydrocarbons,
holding an estimated 250-300 million barrels of light oil, in an
Upper Cretaceous sandstone reservoir. While the announcements say
nothing about the source rock, it appears reasonable to infer that
the light oil has been generated in Lower Cretaceous (probably
Aptian-Barremian) or possibly older/deeper source rocks.
Tower's net acreage position of 18,637 km(2) is believed to be
the third largest net acreage position in the Namibian offshore,
after Exxon and Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas.
Tower's Namibian Blocks, covering a gross area of 23,297 km(2) ,
are in the Northern area of Namibia's offshore, in the Walvis basin
which is closer to the border with Angola and the Namibe basin,
approximately 950 kms away from Graff-1. While this is a
considerable distance, certain conclusions can nevertheless be
drawn that are relevant to our Namibian Blocks.
1. Initial conclusions
The most important point is that the Graff-1 well demonstrates
conclusively the potential for source rocks in the Namibian
offshore to have been buried sufficiently to generate light oil in
substantial quantities. In the past, this had been open to
question, as the only potentially commercial reservoir previously
encountered in the Namibian offshore had been the Kudu gas
discovery, and the Lower Cretaceous source rock at Wingat-1 (about
250 kilometres to the South of our Namibian Blocks) had produced
light oil but until now no substantial oil-charged reservoir was
found. The result at Graff-1 therefore reduces the risk of all
leads which may rely on similar source rocks, even though each
source rock carries its own characteristics and the risks of
migration, charge and reservoir are also unique to each case.
The Graff-1 well also would appear to indicate, if the press
reports are correct, that the slope channel system with a
stratigraphic trap has enabled successful migration of oil into a
potentially commercial scale reservoir, which is encouraging for
further plays of the same type in both Namibia and South
Africa.
2. Tower's Namibian Blocks
This key conclusion is relevant to our Namibian Blocks because
our license area contains a large number of prospects and leads in
the Cretaceous turbidites (sandstones) and also in the Albian
carbonates and early Cretaceous clastics; and the license area also
contains stratigraphic intervals that correlate with regional Lower
Cretaceous source rocks which are buried at a sufficient depth to
put them in the light oil window. We now have confirmation that
these source rocks are potentially capable of producing oil in
quantities required to charge substantial reservoirs.
We note that the two wells drilled by Norsk Hydro in the
mid-1990s in the Tower block 1911 already penetrated both Upper
Cretaceous turbidites and Albian carbonates, with well 1911/15-1
recovering light oil from Albian carbonates, as well as penetrating
three source rock intervals including one in the Upper Cretaceous
(which is oil-prone, but not mature) and two Lower Cretaceous
intervals. In addition to the oil potential from the marine source
rocks encountered in the Lower Cretaceous, the oil actually
recovered from well 1911/15-1 appears to be from deeper Lacustrine
sources, also thought to be Lower Cretaceous, which are clearly
mature.
As previously announced, our Namibian Blocks contain two giant
structures (identified on the map on our website at the link below
as Alpha and Gamma) and four other substantial leads in the Dolphin
Graben (identified on the same map as leads A, B, C and D), each of
which contain multiple stacked reservoirs including Albian
carbonates and Upper Cretaceous turbidites. Both Alpha and Gamma
are interpreted as giant 4-way dip closured structures with
billion-barrel potential. The Dolphin Graben Leads A, B C & D,
all of which are located directly adjacent to areas with mature
source rocks, are each estimated to hold between 250-686 million
barrels of prospective resources (arithmetically summed gross,
unrisked, Pmean), based on Tower's own initial unaudited
estimates.
In addition to the structural plays identified above, Tower has
also identified significant prospectivity in stratigraphic plays
within the Cretaceous and Palaeogene intervals, with potential for
deep-water turbidite reservoirs interbedded with mature source
rocks.
These various plays include leads in the slope channel system
and the base of slope/fan setting, similar to Graff and Venus
respectively, although we do not yet have enough information to say
how closely analogous individual structures may be.
For more information on our Namibian Blocks, please see our
website at this link:
https://www.towerresources.co.uk/operations/namibia/
3. Next steps
Tower has already been conducting basin modelling to support
technical evaluation of the leads identified to date as part of the
work programme for the Initial Exploration Period for PEL 96. We
are now moving forward with more detailed and focused geological
and geophysical analysis aiming to high-grade areas for further
seismic data acquisition, and we will also be looking out for
further information regarding Graff and Venus as and when it
becomes available. Once this work is complete, we will acquire new
3D seismic data over the most promising leads/prospects in line
with our work programme.
Jeremy Asher, Tower's Chairman and CEO, commented:
"We are delighted by the Graff-1 discovery, for the Republic of
Namibia and our partners at Namcor, and also for the greater
confidence that this discovery gives us in our own Namibian Blocks.
As Immanuel Mulunga, Managing Director of Namcor, has said, this
should put to rest any remaining doubts about the hydrocarbon
potential of Namibia. We hope that this discovery will bring
prosperity to Namibia, and that the further exploration and
appraisal activity it generates will also reduce costs and provide
further insights to assist all of us exploring in the area."
Contacts:
Tower Resources plc +44 20 7157 9625
Jeremy Asher
Chairman and CEO
Andrew Matharu
VP - Corporate Affairs
SP Angel Corporate Finance
LLP
Nominated Adviser and Joint
Broker
Stuart Gledhill
Caroline Rowe +44 20 3470 0470
Novum Securities Limited
Joint Broker
Jon Beliss
Colin Rowbury +44 20 7399 9400
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited
Joint Broker
Nick Lovering
Hugh Rich +44 20 7886 2500
Notes:
In accordance with the guidelines for the AIM market of the
London Stock Exchange, Dr Mark Enfield, BSc, PhD, and a member of
the Board of Tower Resources plc, who has over 30 years' experience
in the oil & gas industry, is the qualified person that has
reviewed and approved the technical content of this
announcement.
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END
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