Savannah Petroleum PLC Niger Operational Update (3385H)

TIDMSAVP

RNS Number : 3385H

Savannah Petroleum PLC

12 March 2018

12 March 2018

Savannah Petroleum PLC

("Savannah" or "The Company")

Niger Operational Update

Savannah Petroleum PLC is this morning pleased to provide an update on its operations in Niger, ahead of the commencement of its three well drilling campaign on the R3 portion of the R3/R4 PSC Area in the Agadem Basin, south east Niger.

Operational Update

The construction of the Bushiya well pad, the first well in the Company's campaign, has been completed. The well site is now fully manned and operational, with over 100 personnel on site, including Great Wall Drilling Company Niger SARL rig crew and Savannah drilling supervisors.

Rig GWDC 215 is on location at Bushiya, with preparations for spud underway. Drilling continues to be on track to commence by the end of March 2018. A selection of photographs of Savannah's operations at Bushiya has been uploaded to the Company's website at http://www.savannah-petroleum.com/en/gallery.php.

In preparation for the rest of the drilling campaign, well pad construction for the second well, Amdigh, is over twenty per cent. progressed. Civil work operations at the site are expected to be complete by the end of March 2018, at which point the Company's contractors will commence work at the Kunama site. Further updates will be provided in due course.

Drilling Campaign

As previously announced, Savannah's drilling campaign is intended to target three prospects on the R3 portion of the R3/R4 PSC Area: Bushiya, Amdigh and Kunama (all defined on 3D seismic).

Savannah's competent person, CGG Robertson ("CGG"), has assessed total mean unrisked recoverable resources across the three targets at 110 mmbbls (a simple arithmetic sum of the three targets). Each well is designed to evaluate potential oil pay in the Eocene Sokor Alternances as the primary target, with the secondary target of potential oil pay in the Eocene-Oligocene Upper Sokor being considered as upside.

Initial Drilling Campaign Planned Targets

 
             Alternances      Upper Sokor      Total Unrisked 
             Unrisked Mean    Unrisked Mean    Mean Recoverable 
              Recoverable      Recoverable        Resources, 
              Resources,       Resources,           mmbbls 
                mmbbls           mmbbls 
---------  ---------------  ---------------  ------------------ 
 Bushiya          28               38                36 
---------  ---------------  ---------------  ------------------ 
 Amdigh           33               25                39 
---------  ---------------  ---------------  ------------------ 
 Kunama           24               78                35 
---------  ---------------  ---------------  ------------------ 
 Total            85              141                110 
---------  ---------------  ---------------  ------------------ 
 

Note that total target volumes are "risked additions" of the recoverable resources from all potential reservoirs within each target. A "risked addition" is a probabilistic summation of the volumes expected at each prospective level in a target, and takes into account their respective geological chances of success. "Risked Addition" volumes do not equal a simple arithmetic sum, as the individual reservoir layers are believed to behave independently, such that an exploration success in one does not imply that all will be successful (and vice versa).

Each prospect is anticipated to take c.30-35 days to drill, and there will be a rig move of c.10-15 days between each well. Throughout the drilling, the Company plans to log prospective sections, with further logging as required for hydrocarbon bearing sections. Wells will be suspended in the success case for re-entry and further evaluation, which would include well testing and completion using a smaller, cheaper and dedicated testing or workover rig.

Andrew Knott, CEO of Savannah Petroleum, said:

"We are delighted to be on the cusp of commencing our maiden drilling operations in Niger, which represents the culmination of thousands of man-hours of technical and operational work. The drilling campaign has the potential to be transformational for both Savannah and the local communities in which we are operating. I look forward to sharing further news and updates on this campaign as we move into an operationally busy period for our Company."

 
 For further information contact: 
 Savannah Petroleum                   [phone] 
 Andrew Knott, CEO 
 Isatou Semega-Janneh, CFO 
 Jessica Hostage, VP Corporate 
  Affairs 
 
 Strand Hanson (Nominated Adviser)    [phone] 
 Rory Murphy 
 James Spinney 
 Ritchie Balmer 
 
 Mirabaud (Joint Broker)              [phone] 
 Peter Krens 
 Ed Haig-Thomas 
 
 Hannam & Partners (Joint Broker)     [phone] 
 Neil Passmore 
  Alejandro Demichelis 
 Sam Merlin 
 
 Celicourt Communications             [phone] 
 Mark Antelme 
 Jimmy Lea 
 

The information contained within this announcement is considered to be inside information prior to its release, as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014, and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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March 12, 2018 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT)