28 Jun 2010

SOCO International has been informed by its wholly owned subsidiary SOCO Exploration Production DRC that the Production Sharing Agreement for Block 5 in the Albertine Graben area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has received the Presidential Decree, the final step in the concession award of the block.

The Block, operated by SOCO Exploration Production DRC, is located at the southern end of the Albertine Rift system and includes part of Lake Edward.

The PSC was initially awarded in December 2007 and is adjacent to partner Dominion Petroleum’s Exploration Area 4B (EA4B) in Uganda. During the initial five year exploration period the Block 5 partnership has committed to acquire at least 300 km of seismic data and drill two exploration wells.

The partners may seek to acquire 2D seismic this year in conjunction with similar activities planned by Dominion in EA4B later in 2010. As announced last week Dominion has spud the first well ever in the Lake Edward basin, Ngaji-1, with results due next month and additional seismic likely to follow.

The Block 5 partnership consists of SOCO Exploration Production DRC holding 38.25%, Dominion Petroleum Congo with 46.75% and the state oil company of the Democratic Republic of Congo Congolaise des Hydrocarbures (COHYDRO) with 15%.

Source: Congolese Support Group