Chariot, which plans to drill a well at its Tapir South prospect off the North Coast of Namibia, has yet to contract a rig, possibly pushing its original target of starting to drill in the fourth quarter out by three months.
“We are trying hard to pick up a rig and we have been at it for about seven months. We are very, very close,” chief executive Paul Welch said.
“People are reluctant to come into Namibia, which is not in the center of the oil patch at the moment, for a single, one-well location.”
Conversations at the Africa Oil Week conference in Cape Town this month made Chariot confidence that another firm would also want to use the deepwater rig it requires in the Namibia area, helping it to maintain the estimated cost at $65 million.
Namibia, well known for its uranium resources and a frontier territory for oil exploration, had its profile in the oil world boosted in August when Chariot agreed a deal with BP to explore Chariot’s southern licence.
The Africa Oil Week conference was dominated by talk of east Africa as the new oil and gas frontier, with analysts also saying there was a scramble to explore terrain and untapped potential in parts of west Africa.
Welch said Chariot was in “advanced talks” with six or seven parties which are potential exploration partners for its northern licence, where the Tapir South prospect with its estimated 604 million barrel bounty of oil, is located.
While the company would prefer to secure a partner before drilling starts, it is fully funded for the well and Welch said it planned to go ahead regardless of whether it had a partner.
“We are not exclusively talking to the majors. The people that we are talking to are right for the asset. They are known good explorers, they know how to operate in deep water, they have done developments before,” Welch said.
Chariot will also drill a second well off the coast of southern Namibia in the second or third quarter of 2012 with its partners BP and Brazilian state oil firm Petrobras.
