Baron Oil plc’s subsidiary has secured a six-month extension to the production sharing contract ahead of committing to drilling the Chuditch-2 appraisal well, offshore Timor-Leste.
PREPARATIONS
The PSC for the company’s wholly owned subsidiary and operator SundaGas Banda Unipessoal Lda now ends on 18 June 2024.
A formal decision on whether to enter the drilling phase for Chuditch-2 must be taken at or before that date to begin year three of the contract.
Baron said that the extension allowed SundaGas sufficient time during the subsequent contract year three period to schedule drilling operations in a timely manner.
“The extension itself does not impact our continuing preparations for the planned Chuditch-2 appraisal well, which is expected to be drilled towards the end of 2024.
“Furthermore, it allows time to advance the funding plans for Chuditch-2, where we continue to make good progress with our discussions with a number of potential funding partners.”
The company also plans to submit to the Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo a replacement for the existing US$1 million bank guarantee provided to ANP with one for the same amount to cover the extension period.