RE:just a thoughtWhat i'm afraid of is not picking up any production with our huge cash generation. Obviously serious rebalancing going on with Merril lynch in regards to volume and cross after cross up to today's trading and onward.
Azinam has spent $40 million on its blocks, the Eco CEO continued, acquiring seismic and carrying out surveys
Block 3B/4B, on the other hand, has a “clear and direct correlation”, he said. “We take the view that [Venus and Graff] will at least discovery oil, even if they’re not commercial. They will provide evidence of the oil play offshore Namibia. We should hear news in the next couple of weeks from Graff, while Venus may have some technical issues.”
Success at Venus or Graff would “open up the whole play. I have no doubt Namibia has offshore oil, we already know it has offshore gas, at Kudu.”
Namibia has seen some high-profile disappointments in the past. “All drilling learns from past efforts. Look at Guyana. There was nothing for years but now it seems that every time Exxon puts the straw in they find more oil,” Holzman said.
Explorco
Acquiring Azinam is “the first marker of my and Keith Hill’s [head of Africa Oil] great consolidation. There’s no room to invest in fragmented companies that are years from drilling. We’re putting together these small explorers with good assets and single shots. It makes much more sense to have just one big ‘explorco’,” Holzman said.
There is scope for further acquisitions, he said. “I can think of other companies in the Lundin Group that might fit, this is just the beginning. We’re creating a big exploration company with a string of catalysts, to appeal to the market.” Holzman went on to say such a company would also have sufficient scale to offer acreage access to interested majors.
Eco is also considering potential acquisitions in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. Future deals may also be carried out through the offer of shares.