PETSEC SHARE INTEREST

 BED. Petsec Energy has signed an agreement with fellow Australia-listed company AWE to gain the latter's participating interest in Yemen Block 7.
Petsec will take AWE's 21.25% participating interest in the block, also known as the Al Barqa permit, in exchange for a cash consideration of US$1 million, the replacement of AWE's existing letter of credit with the Arab Bank and working capital adjustments on completion.
"The signing of this agreement is the culmination of a number of years of strategic planning and marks the start of an expansion of Petsec's portfolio of assets into the Middle East, with the aim of securing high value assets within a region that is highly prospective for oil," Petsec chairman Terry Fern said.
"Block 7 has the potential to add significant oil reserves to the company's resource base and significant value to its shareholders. We look forward to working with the operator, Oil Search, to further appraise the Al Meashar oil discovery and explore the remainder of the block."
Block 7 covers 5,000 square kilometers, about 340 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital Sana, and along with the Meashar oil discovery it also contains an inventory of leads and prospects defined by 2D and 3D seismic.
The remaining partners in the block include operator Oil Search on 34%, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company with 21.25%, Japan's Mitsui E&P on 8.5% and the Yemen General Corporation for Oil & Gas holding the remaining 15% equity.