Bounty Oil & Gas has announced plans to expand into deepwater West Africa through a binding agreement to acquire 100% of PetroQuest Liberia Deep Water. The deal gives Bounty exclusive rights to negotiate a production sharing contract (PSC) for Block LB-32, a 2,322-square-kilometer exploration asset located in water depths of between 1,500 and 4,200 meters.
The Australian company has secured $3,547,500 through a placement backed by institutional and strategic investors, including Tribeca Investment Partners, L1 Capital Global Opportunities Master Fund, and S3 Consortium (Stocks Digital). Bounty says the block shares geological similarities with the prolific oil provinces of Guyana and Suriname, as well as major discoveries in Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Namibia.
Initial interpretations indicate that LB-32 contains parts of major basin floor fan systems, including the Jupiter Turonian and Zeus Cenomanian fan prospects. The block has about 656 square kilometers of 3D seismic data from the eastern section of the TGS Sunfish survey, along with 753 line kilometers of 2D seismic data. Bounty says this existing data will support its due diligence and resource assessment.
PetroQuest has a legally binding letter of engagement with the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL). The company expects negotiations for the PSC and parliamentary approval to conclude by January 2027 or shortly afterwards. Bounty will focus on the Upper Cretaceous basin floor fan play, where sand-rich drainage systems formed separate fan bodies such as Jupiter and Zeus. Deep-marine shales provide seals above the fans, while mature Aptian and Cenomanian-Turonian shales provide the underlying source rocks.
Previous drilling along the Liberian margin has also provided evidence of an active oil system. The Narina-1 well, for example, recovered 38° API oil. However, the outboard basin floor fans targeted by Bounty have not yet been drilled. Other exploration opportunities include Upper Cretaceous slope fans and channels, Lower Tertiary basin floor fans similar to the Hammerhead discoveries in Guyana, and deeper Aptian-Albian syn-rift plays.
Bounty said the proposed acquisition would give the company exposure to a deepwater exploration block in the Harper Basin, offshore Liberia. The company also said the transaction structure links part of the vendor’s potential upside to independent technical validation and the successful completion of a farm-out. Bounty’s immediate priorities are to complete due diligence, advance the PSC process, and secure the approvals needed to complete the transaction. The company also pointed to recent activity by major energy companies in the same playfairway, including TotalEnergies in Liberia and Petrobras and ExxonMobil in neighboring jurisdictions.
source: www.offshore-energy.biz
African Energy Council