Vaalco acquires 70% interest, becomes operator of CI-705 Block

Vaalco Energy has farmed into the CI-705 block offshore Côte d’Ivoire. Vaalco will become operator of the block with a 70% working interest and a 100% paying interest though a commercial carry arrangement and is partnering with Ivory Coast Exploration Oil & Gas SAS and PETROCI.

The CI-705 block is located in the prolific Tano basin and is approximately 70 km to the west of Vaalco’s CI-40 Block, where the Baobab and Kossipo oil fields are located, and 60 km west of Eni’s recent Calao discovery. Block CI-705 covers approximately 2,300 sq km and is lightly explored with three wells drilled to date on the block. The water depth across the block ranges from zero to 2,500 m. Vaalco has invested $3 million to acquire its interest in the new block which it believes has significant prospectivity.

“Under the terms of the farm-in, we will operate the block with a 70% working interest and a 100% paying interest as we carry our partners at commercial terms through the seismic reprocessing and interpretation stages and potentially drilling up to two exploration wells,” said George Maxwell, Vaalco’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our initial assessment is that there are both oil and natural gas prospects on the block and we plan to conduct a detailed, integrated geological analysis to assess and mature our understanding of the block’s overall prospectivity.”