Aminex to share cost of double well drilling programme

EXPLORATION company Aminex is to share the €10m plus cost of a double well drilling programme in Tanzania with the Romanian state oil company while keeping a 70% interest in the project.

And despite delays to the project caused by the privatisation of the Petrom, the Romanian state oil company, Aminex is to drill two wells in the Nyuni licence using Petrom subsidiary Petromar’s Orion type jack-up rig Atlas.

Details of the farm out deal of the Nyuni licence were disclosed when Aminex published its preliminary results for the year ending December 2002. The drilling location adjoins the trillion cubic feet Songo gas field, which is part of the internationally financed Songas project to bring gas via a 230 kilometre pipeline to Dar es Salaam, to which the Nyuni licence has rights of access.

Aminex, the oil and gas company listed on the London and Irish Stock Exchanges made a pre-tax loss of $4.95m in 2002 compared to a profit of $5.5m in 2001.

The company revealed that what it described as the “ill considered and unsolicited bid for the company in early 2002” by British company Apple Oil and Gas cost $2 million to fight off.

In a statement accompanying the results Aminex points out that in 2002 $7.5 million was returned to shareholders and says it has a strong balance sheet with no net debt

“The Group’s activities now have a much stronger bias towards high impact exploration following the successful sale of the Komi assets and the subsequent distribution to shareholders. This is reflected in the acquisition in early 2002 of Tanzoil, a major holder of exploration acreage in Tanzania,” the company said.

The company said the 2001 Annual Report made reference to a lawsuit regarding an accident resulting from the collapse of a drilling rig derrick in the USA. Aminex, was according to the company, acting as agent for the seller, sold the rig to a Texan company Corpus Christi Drilling & Workover LLC.

“This lawsuit has since been resolved with all original claims dismissed. However, in recent weeks CCD has filed a lawsuit against Aminex and others, seeking recovery of, amongst other things, property damage to the drilling rig and lost revenue. While there can be no certainty regarding the outcome of this matter, the Directors believe on the information currently available that there is no basis for any claims against Aminex,” the company disclosed.