July 5, 2007 (LONDON) — White Nile said Thursday it has a joint study agreement with the Ethiopian Government’s Petroleum Operations Division, over the prospective East African Rift system in the southwest of the country.
The White Nile which was pulled out of South Sudan last month said its area of interest is in Southern Ethiopia in the Southern Rift Basins.
“As part of the exploration programme, ground geophysical surveys, including magneto-tellurics and gravity, have now been completed in the Omo River area to the north of Lake Turkana. This data is being used to determine basin disposition and depth in this critical area of interference between three proven petroliferous basin trends known as the Turkana Depression.
“Early results of the interpretation are encouraging and have revealed deep basins, potentially containing sedimentary section similar to that of the petroliferous Muglad and Melut Basins of Southern Sudan,” the company said.
It added the next stage in the development of the Company’s Ethiopian project is to finalise the interpretation of the data collected, which will identifying the areas that White Nile wishes to translate into a PSA. Following this the Company will design a reconnaissance 2D seismic programme to identify drill targets.
The company said Chairman Phil Edmonds has recently returned from a meeting in Juba, where he met Vice President of Southern Sudan government Riek Machar and Paul Mayom, the Minister of Interior and Chairman of Nile Petroleum Corp.
According to the White Nile both officials confirmed the proposed formation of a new oil consortium with regard to Block B in Southern Sudan comprising NilePet, White Nile, Total SA, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company and Sudan National Petroleum Corporation, the state owned oil company of northern Sudan.
But reports from Khartoum denied such deal.
The White Nile chairman, Phil Edmonds, has requested that a White Nile board meeting be convened in Juba at the earliest opportunity, followed by a meeting with NilePet to discuss matters relating to further strengthening the relationship between NilePet and White Nile.
The Sudan’s National Oil Commission has pulled out the White Nile from oil consortium working in Block 5 in a meeting held last June. The Commission is co-chaired by the Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir and the First Vice President and president of the Southern Sudan government Salva Kiir.
Kiir had also, ordered the White Nile to freeze oil exploration in Jonglei state, last May, and formed committee to investigate the contract of White Nile oil company, headed by ex-England cricketer Phil Edmonds.
Source: Sudan Tribune