Global Petroleum has announced its Quarterly Report for the period ending 31 March 2020 and provided an update on its operations in Namibia and Italy.
Summary
Namibia: The Company signed an agreement post the reporting period to license pre-existing 3D seismic data in its offshore block 2011A (PEL0094):
- This key data covers an area of 1,583 sq kms, principally within PEL0094, and encompasses both the Welwitschia Deep prospect and the Marula lead, enabling precise mapping of these features and thus facilitating farmout by the Company;
- The Company has agreed to transfer a seven percent participating interest in PEL 0094 to NAMCOR for the right to license the data, taking NAMCOR’s interest in PEL 0094 to 17 percent, carried to first production. Aloe Investments, a private Namibian company holds a five percent interest, carried through exploration.
Italy: Regarding the various appeals against the Environmental Decrees in relation to the Company’s applications for offshore permits:
- The appeal made by the town of Margherita di Savoia to the Council of State has been deferred to November 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy;
- The appeals made earlier by the Puglia region to the Council of State were heard during the reporting period;
- The Council of State, in its preliminary judgement in relation to the Puglia appeal, suspended the proceedings before it referred the matter to the European Court, requesting the Court to rule whether the four Licence Applications contravene a relevant EU Directive relating to the maximum permissible size of individual permits, in particular having regard to the fact that the four permit applications are contiguous;
- The Company is consulting with its legal advisors regarding the process in relation to a hearing in the European Court.
Cost base: In response to the current low oil price environment and the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to conserve cash resources, the Board has recently focused on cutting those costs which are within its control. To this end, the Company has made cuts in various categories of its G&A costs – as part of this the UK directors have agreed to reduce their annual remuneration by 25 per cent, effective 1 April 2020. The Board believes that the Company’s cost base is now at a more appropriate level for the current circumstances.
Source: Energy-pedia via CrudeMix
