KrisEnergy Ltd. has officially acquired Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia) Limited (COPLC), following receipt on September 17, 2014 of acknowledgement from the Royal Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia for the change of control.
COPCL, which holds a 30% working interest in and operatorship of the Block A petroleum agreement offshore Cambodia (“Cambodia Block A”), will be held under the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, KrisEnergy (Asia) Ltd., and will be renamed to KrisEnergy (Apsara) Ltd.
Prior to the completion of the acquisition, KrisEnergy held an indirect 25% working interest in Cambodia Block A, and now holds a combined 55% working interest in the development block. Cambodia National Petroleum Authority, or its successor, intends to exercise its right to acquire a 5% working interest in the block, which when completed will reduce KrisEnergy’s combined holdings to 52.25%.
Joint venture partners, MOECO and GS Energy, have approved KrisEnergy’s acquisition.
Richard Lorentz , Executive Director and Director of Business Development, said: “KrisEnergy has achieved many milestones in its five-year history, but gaining operatorship of Cambodia Block A marks a new step up in our activities.
Development of what we believe are significant oil resources in place will be a flagship project for the Company as well as for Cambodia. We thank the Government for its rapid acknowledgement of the change in control, and we will now work with our partners to submit a revised plan of development to make the Apsara oil field a reality as quickly and efficiently as possible and launch Cambodia as an oil producing nation.”
Extensive exploration work in the Cambodia Block A licence area since the mid-2000s resulted in the Apsara oil discoveries. The contract area covers 4,709 sq km over the Khmer Basin in the Gulf of Thailand where water depths range from 50 metres to 80 metres