MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Navitas committed to offshore Falklands Sea Lion project farm in

Rockhopper CEO Samuel Moody said they will work closely with all stakeholders over the coming months to maximize the chance of securing the farm out and project sanction of Sea Lion

Rockhopper Exploration has confirmed that Navitas Petroleum remains committed to its proposed farm-in to the Sea Lion oil and gas project offshore the Falkland Islands, the company announced on its site.

This follows the recent announcement of the proposed merger of Sea Lion operator Premier Oil and Chrysaor Holdings.

In order to enable the merger to complete and the new management of the combined entity to make a firm decision on the Sea Lion project, Rockhopper, Premier and Navitas have agreed to extend the exclusivity period for the farm-in to the earlier of (i) 30 September 2021; (ii) the execution of definitive transaction documents, or (iii) a decision by Navitas not to proceed with the farm-in.

During this period, Rockhopper’s share of Sea Lion project costs will continue to be borne by Premier under the same terms as previously announced.

Discussions are also continuing with the Falkland Islands Government around a possible extension to licenses PL004 and PL032 which currently expire next May.

Rockhopper CEO Samuel Moody said that ”we will work closely with all stakeholders over the coming months to maximize the chance of securing the farm out and project sanction of Sea Lion. We believe that the opportunity to invest in a 500 million barrel fully appraised and engineered project with material additional upside at this point in the cycle presents a compelling opportunity, and one which would lead us towards unlocking the value within the project long-awaited by all stakeholders.”