Galaz Asset

Overview

Roxi Petroleum's (RXP) Galaz contract area is a relatively small block compared to the potential of BNG (Ayrshagyl) and Ravninnoe, but has been important in establishing reserves and initial production.  The block was recently extended in size to form the most northerly triangular shape and now covers a total area of some 42km2 in the middle of Kazakhstan.

Prospects

Initially, the block had modest 2C gross reserves of 12.6 millions of barrels of oil (mmbo), from 2008 Annual Report. But recent drilling has demonstrated the prospectivity of channel features in the NW Konys field.  Soviet era wells #26 and #27 have been re-entered and flowed at relatively modest rates of 50-60bopd. More recent drilling under Roxi operatorship has been successful, with NK1 finding oil in the Arksum sands.  But wells NK3, 4, 5 and 6 showing oil in the Arksum and Jurassic sands.

The table above shows the total test production levels that have been announced for each well, giving a total of 1,730bopd.  However, we might expect the productivity to be somewhat lower when under full production.  It appears as though production rates from NK4 have not yet been released.  Roxi announced on 7 April 2010 that they expected to achieve 1,200bopd from five wells, adn that NK4 was about to be placed on beam pump for some test production.

It might be expected that additional development wells for the NW Konys field will be required to produce all of the reserves.

Roxi has identified a deeper exploration target in the south east of the acreage which has been drilled to a depth of 2,840m.

We now know that well NK22 is in the SE corner of the block and has recorded 12.8m of net pay in the Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic.  It seems that the deeper horizon was not prospective in this location.  We do not yet know the prospective resources fom this new discovery, but it is probably safe to assume that the 2C (and 2P reserves to SPE standards) will rise.  Hopefully, test results from this well will be published soon.

At the AGM in July 2009, Roxi stated that they intend to extend the seismic grid to the whole Galaz area, and believe there are a large number of targets.

Another operator is going to drill a deeper well to the West of the northern-most apex of the triangle to ~2,500m. We don't know who that is, but the results will be no doubt interesting to RXP as they plan their own deeper well programme. Another operator also holds the "zig-zaggy" triangle near the top of the acreage.

Reserves

A reserves upgrade report has been submitted to the state authorities that was to be reviewed on 4 November with the results of the review expected to be received by 11 November.  Some thought that the expected 2C classification was of the order of 30mmbo (gross, of which Roxi share 34.2%). However it was announced on 1 December that the C1 reserves to GOST standards are 7.4 million barrels of oil (mmbo) and C2 reserves are 7.2mmbo. This makes the 2C reserves to GOST standards 14.6mmbo gross. Following the classification to GOST standards, Roxi is going to determine the reserves classification to western SPE standards.

The December 2009 broker note from Matrix indicated their expectations of 2P reserves under SPE standards to be 8 million barrels of oil (mmbo), with a further 5mmbo unrisked upside.

Hopefully, the NK22 well will add further to the Galaz area reserves in due course.

McDaniel & Associates have been engaged to audit the reserves upgrade on the NW Konys contract area.

Finance

Some time ago, Roxi entered into a 2 stage farm-out agreement with KazRosMunai.

In June, Arawak Energy Limited (a subsidiary of Vitol) advanced a loan, in exchange for some warrants, to finance the development of Galaz to full production (http://www.roxipetroleum.com/PDFs/Rns180609.pdf).

On 17 July Roxi announced they had received an approach from LG of Korea to purchase the whole block, with exclusivity granted until the end of September. Note that LG also holds a stake in ADA Oil.

It was announced on 4 November 2009 that it has not been possible to conclude a deal to sell all or part of the Galaz block to LG under the exclusive MoU. However, Roxi and LG are still discussing a deal, and Roxi has recommenced discussions with other interested parties; which bodes well for achieving full value in any full or part sale.

However, on 11 February 2010, it was announced that a deal had been struck where LG has purchased a 40% stake in the Galaz asset from Roxi Petroleum and the other part owners of the block.  Roxi Petroleum ends up with a remaining 34.2% stake in Galaz, $10m to fund other projects and LG has agreed to provide a further $26m of funding to further appraise and develop the block.  The announcement on 31 March 2010 confirmed that the completion of this transaction was going well.