RE: It's coming home7 Jul 2021 08:07
7 July 2021
Petro Matad Limited
("Petro Matad" or the "Company")
Award of Block XX Exploitation Licence
Petro Matad Limited ("Petro Matad" or "the Company"), the AIM quoted Mongolian oil company provides the following update on its activities in Block XX, eastern Mongolia.
Key Highlights
-- Mongolia's Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry has approved the award of the Block XX Exploitation Licence
-- The approved Plan of Development will concentrate initially on the proven reserves area around Heron 1, expanding in phases to target the estimated 194 million barrels (MMbo) of total in place resource potential
-- The agreed Exploitation Area totals 218km(2) which includes the entire extension into Block XX of the proven and producing Toson Uul Basin
-- The Company will now resume discussions with potential farm-in partners and review funding options to complete the next stage of activity
-- The Company is now focused on preparing for a very active programme in 2022 including the start-up of oil production from the Heron discovery using spare capacity in adjacent infrastructure
Block XX Exploitation Licence
Mongolia's Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry has approved the award of the Block XX Exploitation Licence to Petro Matad. Under the Mongolian Petroleum Law and the Block XX Production Sharing Contract, the Exploitation Licence runs for 25 years (until 1 July 2046) with the option to extend for two periods of five years each.
Plan of Development
The approved Plan of Development, in line with the Mongolia Petroleum Law and normal industry practice, will concentrate initially on the proven reserves area around the Heron 1 well and the Company plans to stimulate and complete Heron 1 along with all subsequent successful appraisal and development wells enabling their early production utilising spare ullage in the nearby PetroChina operated processing and export facilities. The central processing facilities in Block XIX are located some 17km North of Heron 1 and during 2020 PetroChina and Petro Matad signed a Memorandum of Understanding under which Petro Matad can have access to these facilities. Now that the Block XX Exploitation Licence has been awarded, the commercial details for the sharing of PetroChina's facilities will be negotiated.
The full field development plan has been designed to target the estimated 194MMbo in place total resource potential in the Heron structure as independently certified in LEAP Energy's Competent Persons' Report. Based on the oil recovery factor achieved by PetroChina in Block XIX immediately to the north, the recoverable oil potential of Heron could be in the order of 33MMbo. Petro Matad plans to deploy reservoir stimulation technology widely used in the industry but not yet tried in Mongolia, to seek to improve on this recovery factor and sees a target of 30% or more (equating to recoverable resource potential of c. 60MMbo) as realistically achievable based on studies co