Salamander Energy acquires interest in ONWJ, SES blocks

Salamander Energy Ltd has signed a sales and purchase agreement to acquire a 2.5 percent working interest in Offshore North West Java and South East Sumatra PSCs from Citigroup Financial Products Inc, the Oil&Gas Journal reported Friday.

The report said Salamander's working interest in the two assets will add approximately 12.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) to Salamander's 2P reserves and production of about 3,300 boepd.

James Menzies, Salamander's co-founder and CEO, says, "The upstream oil and gas industry in Southeast Asia is in the early stages of transformation and Salamander plans to be at the forefront.

"We are aggressively pursuing exploration and appraisal opportunities in the region where the management at Salamander see great potential for a well financed, agile and focused independent E&P company."

BP-operated ONWJ PSC has some 52 oil and gas fields. Meanwhile, SES PSC operated by China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) has over 280 exploration wells that have been drilled, resulting in the discovery of 47 fields, of which 33 fields have been developed.

Singapore-based oil company Interra Resources Limited earlier acquired the same portion of interests in both PSCs.

Founded in 2005, Salamander, is incorporated in the UK and has offices in Singapore and London. The company is backed by equity investors, including the UK's 3i and Australia's Macquarie and is solely focused on building a broad-based E&P business in Southeast Asia.

Salamander's other major assets include a 9.5 percent stake in the Phu Horm onshore gas field in Northern Thailand, which is operated by Amerada Hess, and a 27.2 percent stake in the surrounding exploration acreage which is showing early signs of significant potential. (*)