ERHC Energy Inc. Confirms Leads in Kenya Block 11A with Closures of Up to 20 Kilometers
Seismic interpretation expected to mature leads to drillable prospects
HOUSTON, November 5, 2014 – ERHC Energy Inc. (OTCBB: ERHE), a publicly traded American company with oil and gas assets in Sub-Saharan Africa, today announced that ongoing interpretation of 2D seismic data on Kenya Block 11A reveals the presence of several viable leads, some with closures of up to 20 square kilometers. CEPSA as operator, along with their partner ERHC, appointed BGP for the acquisition of 1,086.6 kilometers of 2D seismic data, which was acquired between April and July 2014.
"The possibility of existence of stacked reservoirs, as seen in the Lokichar basin, could be a significant factor in computation of field volumetrics associated with these closures," said Dr. Peter Thuo, General Manager of ERHC Kenya Ltd. "Completion of the ongoing detailed seismic interpretation is expected to mature these leads into drillable prospects."
Leads of similar play types, such as the ones associated with major basin-boundary faults, have been successfully tested in the Lokichar Basin, with reserves of producing more than 600 million barrels of oil in place to date. Other significant proven fields in the region include the Muglad and Melut basins in the South Sudan with 3 billion and 2 billion barrels of oil respectively, and the Albertine Basin in Uganda with 1.7 billion barrels of oil in place.
The full tensor gravity gradiometry (FTG) survey conducted earlier on the Block identified two separate basins, Anam and Tarach, which cover 1,600 square kilometers to the west of Block 11A and 2,500 square kilometers to east, respectively. The basins are estimated to contain up to six to seven kilometers of sediments. Based on the analogy with the Lokichar basin, burial history is sufficient to generate commercial amounts of liquid hydrocarbons.
Bell Geospace acquired over 12,000 square kilometers of FTG data in the Block, on behalf of the contracting parties, during the fourth quarter of 2013. The FTG results enabled the optimization of the 2D seismic program layout, designed to image the subsurface structural features within the two basins.
ERHC holds a 35 percent interest in Block 11A after farming out a 55 percent stake to CEPSA Kenya Limited, a wholly owned affiliate of Compañía Española de Petróleos, S.A.U. (CEPSA). CEPSA is the operator of the Block.
In addition to Kenya Block 11A, ERHC's oil and gas exploration interests extend across the African continent, including the São Tomé and Príncipe Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Republic of Chad and the Nigeria- São Tomé and Príncipe Joint Development Zone (JDZ).
