Ophir Expands South East Asian Footprint

Ophir Energy on Monday announced it has entered into an agreement with Niko Resources to acquire interests in seven deepwater Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) in Indonesia.

The company will pay Niko $31 million on completion of the transaction.

The transaction expands Ophir's footprint in South East Asia, following the award of acreage offshore Myanmar earlier this year. Post completion, Ophir will be a leading deepwater exploration acreage holder in Indonesia and the transaction will increase the company's total gross licensed acreage by 40%, the company said.

In the seven PSCs, Ophir will be holding equity interests ranging from 18.5-100 percent, six of which will be operated positions, with partners including Statoil and ENI. In total, the acreage covered by the PSCs is approximately 21,500 square km with significant 2D and 3D seismic data already acquired by Niko.

According to Ophir, multiple leads and prospects, along with underexplored new plays, have been identified across the portfolio, across a mix of clastic and carbonate play types in both proven and frontier basins.

The licences are split broadly into three core areas - West Papua, Western Birds Head and the Makassar Strait.