Dominion Petroleum Picks Up Block Offshore Kenya

- Dominion Petroleum Picks Up Block Offshore Kenya

Monday, August 01, 2011
Dominion Petroleum Ltd.

Dominion Petroleum announced the award of Block L15 of the Lamu Basin, offshore Kenya. This new award follows Dominion having secured Block L9, offshore Kenya, in March 2011.

The Company concluded negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Kenya by executing heads of agreement ("HoA") which define the terms for Block L15, with Dominion serving as operator with a 100% working interest.

The award of L15 is subject only to the signature of a Production Sharing Contract ("PSC") by Dominion and Kenya's Ministry of Energy; currently scheduled to take place in the coming weeks in Nairobi.

With Block L15 now added to its portfolio of exploration assets in offshore East Africa, Dominion holds a leading exploration portfolio in the deepwater East African margin by now operating 3 blocks in Tanzania and Kenya. The directors anticipate that the expanded, combined portfolio may gain even more industry interest going forward. The Company can now adopt a partnering strategy for the assets in terms of moving toward the drilling of this expanded portfolio.

Block L15 lies immediately to the north of Block L8, where the reportedly 1 billion barrel Mbawa prospect shall likely be drilled in mid 2012. Dominion's new Block is on the Davy-Walu structural trend, as is Block L9. The only well in Block L15 is Kofia-1, which was drilled by Union Oil in 1985 and encountered good oil shows in the Palaeogene and Upper Cretaceous intervals. Planned drilling by other operators along the Davy-Walu trend over the next 12 months may serve to de-risk the prospectivity in both L9 and L15 before firm drilling commitments are made in either PSC.

Following signature, the Initial Exploration Period of the PSC will last for two years. During this time, a gross minimum work commitment of $2.85m inclusive of the acquisition of 250 square kilometres of 3D seismic data is required.

Following the Initial Exploration Period, there is an option to relinquish the PSC or commit to another two year exploration period with the obligation to drill one well in that period.

The terms and the commitments for L15 defined in the HoA compare very favorably to other countries in the region relative to the potential resource the block represents.

Andrew Cochran, Chief Executive of Dominion Petroleum, commented, "We are delighted to add Block L15 to Dominion's East Africa deepwater exploration portfolio, one of the most sought after addresses in the exploration industry these days. The region is seeing both growing attention from, and accelerated activity by, major players with Kenya now due for deepwater drilling within the next year following the last year's successes in Tanzania and Mozambique.

"Dominion's new award represents a material expansion of an already enviable deepwater East African portfolio. We can now focus our attentions on the business of exploring these blocks, realizing their true value and embarking on substantive discussions with potential partners to establish plans for drilling."

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Dominion Petroleum to Steer Block Offshore Kenya

- Dominion Petroleum to Steer Block Offshore Kenya

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Dominion Petroleum Ltd.

Dominion Petroleum has signed the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Block L9 in the Lamu Basin, offshore Kenya, giving the Company a 60% working interest and operatorship. The Company previously announced the award of L9 on 21st March 2011 and the PSC was signed yesterday by Dominion Petroleum and the Kenyan Ministry of Energy in Nairobi.

Dominion Petroleum shall now begin the initial exploration period of the PSC. The Company will reprocess 2,500km of 2D seismic data, carry out block wide G&G studies and acquire 500km2 of 3D seismic data in the initial two year exploration period. This will result in a minimum gross expenditure of $6.15mm. Following this initial two year period, the Company can enter the second two-year period by committing to drill a single exploration well.

Block L9 was one of the last remaining prospective opportunities for unlicensed acreage along the whole of the deepwater East African margin. The area is attracting increasing attention from large, well established competitors, as well as stimulating interest from new entrants. Block L9 bears many geological similarities to the Company's Block 7 offshore Tanzania and Dominion intends to use its existing knowledge of the regional geology to maximize the potential of the prospects within the PSC.

Dominion will coordinate exploration activities within the expanded portfolio offshore East Africa to better leverage experience in Tanzania and to achieve better cost efficiencies.

Andrew Cochran, Chief Executive of Dominion Petroleum, commented, "The signing of L9 in Kenya is a significant milestone for Dominion as our deepwater East Africa 'footprint' has grown substantially. We find ourselves amidst some very large companies in both Tanzania and Kenya, still being able to capture L9 under competitive terms in a competitive process. The inclusion of L9 in the deepwater portfolio means that 2012 will be a very active year for the company in what is becoming one of the 'hottest' emerging plays in Africa."

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Dominion Receives Block Extension Offshore Tanzania

Dominion Receives Block Extension Offshore Tanzania

Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Dominion Petroleum Ltd.

Dominion has been granted a 1 year extension to the Initial Exploration Period for its deepwater Block 7 by the United Republic of Tanzania's Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
The extension to the current period removes any obligation for the company to relinquish any portion of Block 7 until May of next year, providing Dominion with much more time to more fully evaluate the acreage before a mandatory 50% relinquishment at the close of the Initial Period.

Late last year, Dominion acquired a 3-D seismic survey on Block 7 and is presently processing these data in full while interpreting the "Fast Track" volume; the survey was initially focused on the Alpha prospect.

However, the "Fast Track" volume has led to the identification of numerous other prospects of similar scale to Alpha and final processing for the survey is likely to be completed in early May. The company may acquire new 2D, or additional 3D, data this year in the block to mature some of the additional leads and prospects identified since last year's competent persons report (CPR).

A competent persons report (CPR) prepared, in September 2010, by Energy Resource Consultants Ltd confirmed a mean prospective resource of 7Tcf of natural gas, or 1.1 billion barrels of oil, for the Alpha prospect alone. The 3D and recent drilling results in the area have positively impacted the prospectivity of Block 7 in a material way.

In granting the extension, the Ministry noted Dominion's good working track record in Tanzania. The additional time means that Dominion can continue to assess the whole of block, and possibly acquire more data, to better decide how to proceed toward drilling.
Andrew Cochran, Chief Executive of Dominion Petroleum, commented, "We thank the Government of Tanzania for granting us this extension. It is a validation of the technical work we have done to date and reflects the huge scale in terms of prospectivity that Block 7 represents.

"The extension of the license will allow us to better formulate plans on a drilling program for our deepwater East Africa portfolio in 2012. As the area becomes more and more competitive by the day our position becomes more and more strategic."