Marathon Oil subsidiary Marathon Ethiopia will acquire a 20% stake in South Omo concession in Ethiopia, effective 17 August 2012.
The company will pay $40m to Agriterra, the owner of the concession, with which it entered into a sale and purchase agreement.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Marathon Oil vice president Global Exploration Annell Bay said the new deal is a strong addition to the company’s position in the tertiary rift trend onshore East Africa, and is on trend with the recent Ngamia-1 discovery in Kenya.
"We are excited to build on our partnership with Tullow and Africa Oil," said Bay.
The South Omo concession has an area of approximately 7.2 million gross acres, the company said.
Marathon Oil stated that a new exploration well is anticipated to spud in South Omo in the fourth quarter of 2012.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataTullow Oil owns a 50% working interest in the South Omo concession and is the operator while Africa Oil holds the remaining 30% working interest.
Marathon Oil will also pay Agriterra an additional payment of $10m in consideration for the assignment of these interests.
The additional payment is contingent upon Marathon Oil’s participation in a declaration of a commercial discovery.
The transaction is subject to customary approvals in line with Ethiopia’s government, andl is expected to close by the end of 2012.
US-based Marathon Oil is an independent international energy company having net proved reserves of 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent in North America, Europe and Africa at the end of 2011.
Image: Marathon Oil vice president, Global Exploration Annell Bay. Photo: Courtesy of Marathon Oil.
