LONDON (Alliance News) - Following a frustrating six months, Bahamas Petroleum PLC Wednesday said it will continue its search for a partner that should allow it to begin drilling operations on its licenses before April 2017.
Bahamas has been keen to begin drilling its licenses in its name-sake country since the first half of 2015, but wanted to bring down the cost of the first offshore exploration well by sourcing a partner. That was back in July, and the company has failed to secure a partner since.
On Wednesday, the company said it will continue to source a partner throughout 2016, and said it envisages starting drilling operations by April 2017. In the meantime, Bahamas Petroleum will have to complete some preliminary work this year, including well design, environmental work and securing the necessary permits.
"The company is engaged in ongoing partnering discussions with a variety of parties, including majors and large independent oil companies. Notwithstanding near-term reductions to crude product prices, the world-class scale and robust economics of Bahamas Petroleum's defined geological structures continue to attract the interest of industry participants, and the company hopes to conclude a successful partnership arrangement during 2016," it said in a statement.
Since 2007, the company has spent in excess of USD100.0 million on its licences in the Bahamas and the company is expecting this to rise by another USD100.0 million by the end of 2017 - which could end up being a fragment of the total investment by the company.
"In the event of a successful discovery, full evaluation and commercialisation of the Company's licence area could see incremental investment by the company (and any partners) of many billions of dollars in the period 2018 to 2025," said the company.
"The company's long-term intent, as its projects advance and mature, has always been to deepen further the already considerable investment in the Bahamas," it added.
Bahamas Petroleum will also continue to pursue its plan to make a dual-listing on the Bahamas International Stock Exchange to allow Bahamian citizens to more easily participate directly in the company and its licenses. That was first announced by the company in 2012, but has been hitherto constrained pending the recently advanced regulatory legislation process.
"With our southern licences extended into their second exploration term and the lengthy process of passing the new regulatory regime now behind us, Bahamas Petroleum starts 2016 in a strong position to advance what we believe is potentially a multi-billion barrel petroleum resource that is world class in terms of its scale, economic potential, location and operating environment," said Chief Executive Simon Potter.
Bahamas shares were trading up 3.4% to 1.81 pence per share on Wednesday.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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