Gulfsands Petroleum Share News (GPX)

(ShareCast News) - Syria, Tunisia, Colombia and Morocco-focussed oil and gas company Gulfsands Petroleum announced on Wednesday that its subsidiary, Gulfsands Petroleum Morocco, had been awarded an extension to its Moulay Bouchta Petroleum Agreement, together with a revised work programme.The AIM-traded firm had previously disclosed in its interim report that an agreement had been reached with Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines, subject to the usual government approvals and certain conditions precedent, to extend the duration of the initial phase of the exploration period at Moulay Bouchta from two years to three years.On 8 November 2016, the group reported that all conditions precedent had been satisfied, and it was awaiting formal approval of the extension from the Moroccan authorities."The group confirms that all approvals have now been received, such that the extension has become effective," Gulfsands' board said on Wednesday.As a result, the Initial Phase will now run to 19 June 2017, with a revised work programme for the extended Initial Phase consisting of the acquisition of 200 km 2D line seismic data, the reprocessing and interpretation of selected legacy 2D seismic data, and a legacy field study with the aim to identify any potential for re-activation."Consequently, the estimated cost of the work programme as specified in the amendment to the Petroleum Agreement has been reduced from $3.5m to $2.5m," the board added.Gulfsands Petroleum Morocco will immediately seek to begin the Environmental Impact Study in anticipation of commencing the seismic acquisition, it said.The company was already in discussions with ONHYM to secure a further extension to allow additional time to complete the revised work programme."The work programme focusses on an oil prospective area identified to the east of the depleted Haricha oil field."Based on work performed to date, GPML has identified new lead concepts with gross recoverable prospective resources internally estimated at 149 mmbo," the board explained."This estimate has not been subject to external audit."Gulfsands said it continued to be interested in identifying a farm-in partner for the Moulay Bouchta permit, with any parties interested invited to contact the group directly.