Cuba awards Melbana Energy exploration extension

Australian firm Melbana Energy said Cuba's national oil company Cupet has granted it an extension to carry out exploration work on onshore block 9.

Formerly known as MEO Australia, the Melbourne-based company changed its name this month.

Cupet approved an amendment to the block 9 PSC exploration sub-periods so that the first exploration sub-period, which started in September 2015 for an 18-month period and includes an initial activity of evaluating the existing exploration data in the block and reprocessing selected 2D seismic data, has been extended by eight months to November 2017, Melbana said in a statement

The modification comes with a corresponding reduction in the term of future sub-periods.

As a result, the overall block 9 PSC exploration period remains unchanged at eight and a half years and will continue until March 2024, it said.

Melbana announced in October it was planning to drill a well at block 9 in the first quarter of 2018. The block is part of an onshore field covering 2,380km2 and was awarded to MEO in September 2015 for a 25-year term.

"This extension provides Melbana with additional time and flexibility to complete the first sub-period assessment program and is due recognition of the substantial amount of work Melbana has undertaken on Block 9 since acquiring it in late 2015," the company's CEO, Peter Stickland, said

"Melbana is now well advanced in the preliminary assessment of Block 9 based on the historical exploration data, having already identified exploration potential for 8.183Bb of oil-in-place with prospective resources of 395Mb just in the "Lower Sheet Play" alone, and we are continuing to focus our efforts on the potential for early drilling opportunities in Block 9," he added.