Offshore staff
LONDON – Tower Resources has sold its subsidiary Comet Petroleum to Red Rio Petroleum for a cash consideration of £1 ($1.24), future contingent payments, and an over-riding royalty interest of 10% over future production revenue from Comet’s assets in the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
In mid-2008 Tower acquired Comet, which holds a 50% in the Guelta and Bojador blocks in the SADR, from the company’s then directors.
The SADR is the democratically elected government of the territory known as Western Sahara, but sovereignty of the territory remains in dispute with Morocco. Tower’s board felt that disposing of the assets, while retaining an interest in their future development, was the best way forward.
The Guelta (offshore) and Bojador (onshore) blocks are in the little explored Aaiun basin, one of a series of mature passive margin basins along the North Atlantic margin of northwest Africa.
A well drilled by Conoco in shallow water encountered asphalt in the early Tertiary and throughout the early to late Cretaceous, along with a 13-m (42.6-ft) thick tar saturated sand in the Aptian.
According to Tower’s announcement on takeover of Comet, there is an extensive Lower Cretaceous deltaic sequence in shallow to mid-range water depths, while triassic salt to the west provides the mechanism for development of large tilted fault blocks, overlain by drape structures, with potential for multi-level prospectivity.
The Guelta offshore license covers 15,760 sq km (6,085 sq mi) in water depths of 100-2,800 m (328-9,186 ft).
01/24/2017
