Oman has signed an exploration and production sharing agreement with Swedish firm Tethys Oil for its onshore block 58, the company said July 5.
The block is located in the southern part of the sultanate adjacent to Tethys Oil's operated exploration licence block 49. Tethys Oil will be the operator of the block, through its wholly owned subsidiary Tethys Oil Qatbeet Ltd., and hold a 100% license interest.
Block 58 was one of six offered in Oman's 2019 upstream tenders, and the other licenses are yet to be awarded. The blocks -- 58, 70, 73, 74, 75 and 76 -- were carved out of Petroleum Development Oman's prolific block 6, which produces the bulk of Oman's oil output. PDO was obliged to relinquish these blocks due to statutory license rules, Oman's oil and gas ministry has previously said.
Block 58 is located in the Dhofar governorate in the southern part of Oman and covers an area of 4,557 sq. km.
The agreement covers an initial exploration period of three years with an optional extension period of another three years. If a commercial discovery is made, the agreement will be converted into a 15-year production license, which can be extended for another five years. In the case of an oil or gas discovery, Oman has the right for one of its state-owned oil and gas companies to move back into the block with a 30% interest.
Tethys initial work commitments during the first period include a 3D seismic campaign and drilling of two exploration wells, the company has said. A total of 7,600 km of 2D seismic and 1,100 sq km of 3D seismic data acquired by previous operators has been made available to Tethys Oil as well as raw logs and well reports from two wells drilled within the block boundaries. Both wells showed the presence of hydrocarbon, the company said.
