On 21 September 2012 Sierra Leone’s Parliament ratified a petroleum license for Block SL7A-10 to be executed by Minexco and Signet Petroleum.
The companies first won approval for the license from the Petroleum Directorate of Sierra Leone for Block SL7A-10 on 12 September 2012.
The 3,490 square kilometre Block SL 7A-10 is located in a water depth of 3,000m and it is one of the major blocks in the recent Sierra Leone licensing round.
Minexco, with a 90% participation interest, is the operator of the block, while Signet Petroleum owns the remaining ten percent of the stake.
The company’s exploration programme will target deepwater turbidite channel plays, which are considered to have similar high impact potential as recent discoveries such as Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, made by Anadarko in the adjacent Block 7B-11, Minexco said.
The companies will license all available 2D and 3D seismic data and acquire additional 2D and 3D data as part of the work programme.
They will also contribute to social programmes and local training, as well as making efforts to provide employment to Sierra Leone nationals wherever possible, the company said.
Gibraltar-based Minexco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minexco Petroleum, is a private oil and gas exploration and production company which is building a substantial portfolio of upstream oil and gas ventures across West Africa and the northern part of South America.
