Pan-Petroleum, the independent oil and gas exploration and production company with a primary focus on West African opportunities, declares the acquisition, via its wholly owned subsidiary Pan-Petroleum Gabon B.V., of an additional 8.333% non-operated interest in the Dussafu Marin Exploration Production Sharing Contract (PSC) located offshore southern Gabon.

This was acquired from Perenco Gabon S.A., a subsidiary of the Perenco Group. The Dussafu PSC lies within a proven oil and gas fairway and is well known by the principals of the Company who have worked previously on the PSC in an operator capacity. The PSC licence contains two small oil discoveries and one gas discovery and is adjacent to established oil production facilities operated by Vaalco and Perenco.

The ownership of this licence has been transformed in recent months through Harvest Natural Resources acquiring a 50% operating interest from Sasol Petroleum International and Pan-Petroleum acquiring a 25% non operating interest from Premier Oil Overseas BV, a subsidiary of Premier Oil PLC. The remaining 25% interest had until now been retained by Perenco. On 10th September 2008 Harvest and Pan-Petroleum completed separate transactions to acquire Perenco’s 25% interest on a pro rata basis. These transactions have been approved by the Gabonese authorities. Following these transactions, the future joint venture comprises Harvest Dussafu B.V. as Operator (66.667%) plus Pan-Petroleum Gabon B.V. (33.333%).

Most of the licence area is already covered with 3D seismic data and the partners have recently awarded a contract to reprocess these data with a view to defining targets for drilling in 2009 and evaluating the existing discoveries. In addition it is anticipated that a new 2D seismic survey will be acquired in the portion of the block not covered by 3D data.

Pan-Petroleum CEO, Dr. Phil Vingoe, said, “We are delighted to announce the expansion of our position in Gabon and look forward to developing our excellent relationships with the Gabonese authorities, particularly with the Direction Generale des Hydrocarbures (DGH). This new partnership of Harvest and Pan-Petroleum has created a dynamic and enthusiastic joint venture committed to the creation of success within the Dussafu licence. We look forward to a long and successful relationship and expect to increase our investments in Gabon in the future.”

Tags: Dussafu Marin Exploration, Harvest Natural Resources, Pan-Petroleum