VANCOUVER, BC, May 23, 2023
/CNW/ - (TSX: AOI) (Nasdaq-Stockholm: AOI) – Africa Oil
Corp. ("Africa Oil", "AOC" or the "Company") announces
that it has submitted withdrawal notices to its joint venture
partners on Blocks 10BB, 13T and 10BA in Kenya, to unconditionally and irrevocably,
withdraw from the entirety of the joint operating agreements
("JOAs") and Production Sharing Contracts ("PSCs") for these
concessions. The Company has concurrently submitted notices to
Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, requesting the government's
consent to transfer all of its rights and obligations under the
PSCs to its remaining joint venture partner. View PDF version.
The carrying value of the Kenya
intangible exploration assets was written down to $58.6 million at December
31, 2022, and the Company intends to further impair this
value to zero.
Africa Oil President and CEO Keith
Hill commented: "We have taken the decision to exit our
Kenya concessions as our strategy
has shifted to focus on production and high potential exploration
opportunities, including our Orange Basin portfolio where we are
now appraising the exciting Venus discovery, offshore Namibia.
Africa Oil is proud to have played a central role in discovering
the oil fields in Kenya's South
Lokichar Basin. We continue to believe these discoveries will form
the basis of a significant oil producing province in the coming
years with strategic value for the country. We have also had the
privilege of working with our host communities on our
social-focused programs and we are grateful to them for welcoming
us to their midst. We thank the government of Kenya, our host communities and our joint
venture partners for their support over the years and we wish them
the best in taking the project forward to the next stage."
About Africa Oil
Africa Oil Corp. is a Canadian oil and gas company with
producing and development assets in deepwater Nigeria and an exploration/appraisal portfolio
in west and south of Africa, as
well as Guyana. The Company is
listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq Stockholm under
the symbol "AOI".
Additional Information
This information is information that Africa Oil is obliged to
make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the
Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information
was submitted for publication, through the agency of the
contact persons set out above, at 01:30 a.m.
ET on May 23, 2023.
Forward-Looking
Information
Certain statements and information contained herein constitute
"forward-looking information" (within the meaning of applicable
Canadian securities legislation). Such statements and information
(together, "forward-looking statements") relate to future events or
the Company's future performance, business prospects or
opportunities.
All statements other than statements of historical fact may be
forward-looking statements. Statements concerning proven and
probable reserves and resource estimates may also be deemed to
constitute forward-looking statements and reflect conclusions that
are based on certain assumptions that the reserves and resources
can be economically exploited. Any statements that express or
involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations,
beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future
events or performance (often, but not always, using words or
phrases such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue",
"estimate", "expect, "may", "will", "project", "predict",
"potential", "targeting", "intend", "could", "might", "should",
"believe" and similar expressions) are not statements of historical
fact and may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, ongoing uncertainties
and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ
materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking
statements, including statements pertaining production, schedules
and costs of exploratory drilling activity including those offshore
Namibia , uninsured risks,
regulatory and fiscal changes, availability of materials and
equipment, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations,
duration of the drilling program, availability of third party
service providers and defects in title. No assurance can be given
that these expectations will prove to be correct and such
forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. The
Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to
update these forward-looking statements, except as required by
applicable laws. These forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties relating to, among other things, changes in
macro-economic conditions and their impact on operations, changes
in oil prices, reservoir and production facility performance,
hedging counterparty contractual performance, results of
exploration and development activities, cost overruns, uninsured
risks, regulatory and fiscal changes including uncertainties around
applicable corporate income tax in Nigeria, defects in title, claims and legal
proceedings, availability of materials and equipment, availability
of skilled personnel, timeliness of government or other regulatory
approvals, actual performance of facilities, joint venture partner
underperformance, availability of financing on reasonable terms,
availability of third party service providers, equipment and
processes relative to specifications and expectations and
unanticipated environmental, health and safety impacts on
operations. Actual results may differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Africa Oil Corp.