Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras, announces it has acquired, by means of its wholly-owned subsidiary Petrobras Participaciones S.L. – PPSL, 50 per cent of the stakes in the Ntsina Marin and Mbeli Marin Blocks, located in the Coastal Basin of Gabon, offshore the Gabonese Republic, on the Western Coast of Africa. The region has geological structures that are considered comparable to the areas developed in Brazil.
The blocks were purchased from Ophir Energy, which is headquartered in the UK and will keep the remaining 50 percent of the interests. The deal was completed and is pending final approval by the Government of Gabon.
The region the two blocks are in covers an area of 6,683 square kilometers, in water depths ranging from shallow to up to 2,400 meters. Petrobras commits to carry out a minimum program, which includes 2,000 square kilometers of 3D seismics. After this stage, Petrobras has the right to assess whether or not it will remain in the next phase of the exploration program, which includes drilling wells.
