Chariot racing on Namibia rig contract

The Africa focused energy explorer, Chariot Oil & Gas, has managed to secure a drilling rig for its offshore Namibia operations.The Maersk Deliverer rig is expected to arrive on location at the end of March 2012 and drilling of the Tapir South prospect will start shortly afterwards.Chariot reckons the prospect has a 25% chance of success and "un-risked" prospective resources of 604 million barrels of oil. The well will be located 80 kilometres off the coast of Namibia in 2,108 metres of water with a drilling depth of approximately 5,100 metres. It's expected the exploration well will take two months to complete.Paul Welch, the Chief Executive of Chariot, said he was "extremely pleased" to sign the drilling rig contract with Maersk despite the "tight" rig market. He added: "This will be only the second well ever to have been drilled in the Namibe Basin".Broker Northland Capital Partners noted: "The exploration well on Tapir South ... will be the first well in Chariot's four to five well exploration programme for 2012/2013. A second well is planned for Chariot's Southern Block, 2714A in H212 [the second half of 2012]."The broker said the drilling will mark the start of an exciting period of frontier exploration for the region and has "obvious read across for both Tower Resources and Global Petroleum with nearby acreage," according to Northland analyst Andrew McGeary."Whilst the prospects are all looking at unique structures, Chariot's programme could provide important information about the potential hydrocarbon system in the region," McGeary suggested. Chariot's shares had risen 11.5% by 11:40am.BS