VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — (Marketwire) — 07/04/12 — Africa Oil Corp. (“Africa Oil” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE: AOI)(OMX: AOI) is pleased to provide the following update on the Company–s exploration activities in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The Ngamia-1 wildcat well in Kenya Block 10BB has now been drilled to a total depth of 2,340 meters, has made a significant light oil discovery and is now being suspended for future flow testing. In addition to the greater than 100 meters of net light oil pay in the Upper Lokhone Sand section previously reported, the well encountered an additional 43 meters of potential oil pay based on logs and the recovery of light oil on an MDT sample over a gross interval of 150 meters. Testing equipment including downhole pumps is being mobilized and the intention is to flow test a number of the zones in the Upper and Lower Lokhone Sands in the near future to confirm the full potential of this discovery.
Oil was encountered in sands throughout an 1,100 meter interval, including a 300 meter thick section of Lokhone Shale, which is believed to be the primary source interval in the South Lokichar Basin. Over one hundred leads and prospects have now been identified in seven separate basins in the Kenya and Ethiopia Tertiary rift basin acreage. Those located in the South Lokichar Basin have been substantially de-risked due to their proximity to Ngamia.
Drilling concluded 360 meters shallower than pre-drill estimates when the well encountered the basin bounding fault, which is interpreted to have cut out some 100 meters of prospective reservoirs. Further away from the fault we expect to encounter the complete reservoir section and for reservoir thickness and quality to improve.
The rig is now preparing to move to drill the Twiga-1 well, 30 km northeast in Block 13T along the western basin bounding fault on trend with Ngamia. Once this drilling has completed it is planned to use this rig to return to Ngamia-1 for the above mentioned flow testing. Two additional rigs are being sourced, one for the Pai Pai prospect in Kenya Block 10A and one for the Sabisa prospect in the South Omo block in Ethiopia. These wells are expected to spud late in the third and the fourth quarters of 2012, respectively. Three seismic crews are now active in the Teritiary rift trend and a proposal to acquire 3D seismic over the Ngamia discovery is under consideration.
Keith Hill, President and CEO, commented, “The Ngamia discovery has been an amazing start to our East African drilling campaign. The large number of leads and prospects developed to date shows the major upside potential of these basins and many of these have now been de-risked by the success at Ngamia. We look forward to several more high impact wells this year as we accelerate the exploration of these highly prospective trends.”
Africa Oil Corp. is a Canadian oil and gas company with assets in Kenya, Ethiopia and Mali as well as Puntland (Somalia) through its 45% equity interest in Horn Petroleum Corporation. Africa Oil–s East African holdings are in within a world-class exploration play fairway with a total gross land package in this prolific region in excess of 300,000 square kilometers. The East African Rift Basin system is one of the last of the great rift basins to be explored. New discoveries have been announced on all sides of Africa Oil–s virtually unexplored land position including the major Albert Graben oil discovery in neighbouring Uganda. Similar to the Albert Graben play model, Africa Oil–s concessions have older wells, a legacy database, and host numerous oil seeps indicating a proven petroleum system. Good quality existing seismic show robust leads and prospects throughout Africa Oil–s project areas. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and on First North at NASDAQ OMX-Stockholm under the symbol “AOI”.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Keith C. Hill, President and CEO
Africa Oil–s Certified Advisor on NASDAQ OMX First North is Pareto Ohman AB.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Africa Oil Corp.
Sophia Shane
Corporate Development
(604) 689-7842
(604) 689-4250 (FAX)