LSE-listed Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) had announced the signing of a Reconnaissance Permit Agreement with the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone (PDSL).
The permit grants Wildcat Petroleum non-exclusive rights to conduct reconnaissance operations over 24,000 km2 for a period of six months. The company will notably carry out a desktop study using geophysical and geological data to identify blocks with the highest potential to yield commercially viable oil finds.
“If block(s) with the potential of containing commercially viable oil discoveries are identified then WCAT intends to enter negotiations with the PDSL for a Petroleum Exploration and Production Licence(s),” Wildcat Petroleum said in a statement yesterday.
The study area notably contains two uncommercial oil discoveries, Mercury and Jupiter, discovered by Anadarko Petroleum, Tullow Oil and Repsol.
Based on previous exploration in the country and the presence of hydrocarbon shows in the wells drilled offshore Sierra Leone, Wildcat Petroleum believes there is a working petroleum system there.
“In the period since these blocks were relinquish billions of barrels of oil resources have been discovered in the Cretaceous fans beneath the deep waters of the Guyana-Suriname Basin in South America Ð which can be linked tectonically & litho-stratigraphically with the conjugate Sierra Leone Basin,” the company added.
Wildcat Petroleum was incorporated in 2020 and was admitted to the London Stock Exchange the same year. In June 2021, the company announced that it would initially focus on securing and developing a proven upstream asset in Angola, with a secondary focus on Namibia for exploration upside.