RE: Sign off 1st1 Oct 2025 12:29
Ignore the noise and ades takeover abundance of rigs gla
We have received a copy of the Prime Minister's instruction to the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development ("MINMIDT") to approve both a one-year extension to the initial exploration period of our Thali license and also the farm-out of a 42.5% interest in the license to Prime Global Energies Limited ("Prime") as we announced in January. Our understanding is that the President has also approved this and the instruction is now being relayed back to MINMIDT, but since we are not a party to the internal processes of government we can say no more than this. Shareholders should understand that the Cameroon government has quite formal approval processes, and as with many governments the elapsed time for them can be lengthy even when the process is positive.
In order to minimise the time between approval and drilling, we have already commenced well planning and contract negotiations for both rig and services, which culminated in an award to ADES for the provision of a rig, originally intended to be the Admarine 510, for mobilisation in October 2025. We now expect to use a different ADES rig, and ADES has a number of alternatives available, having recently completed the take-over of Shelf Drilling's West African fleet. Therefore we do not expect the approval timing to create a problem with the availability of a rig, but obviously the timing and choice of the rig will reflect both the approval timing and also the call-off times for services under the various service contracts. The major service contracts are now almost entirely agreed, and we will announce when each is signed, but obligations under those contracts only begin when we call for the services, with lead times of up to three months for most of those services, so this will also reflect the minimum time between approvals and being able to commence drilling operations.
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