Fastnet has signed a farmout agreement with South Korean company SK Innovation for the Foum Assaka Contract Area off the Moroccan coast.
The deal gives SK Innovation a 12.5% stake – half of Fastnet’s interest – over four exploration licenses in Foum Assaka Block, which lies in the Agadir Basin.
The deal will result in SK paying Fastnet’s subsidiary Pathfinder Hydrocarbon Ventures nearly £2million reimbursement of past costs, as well as a further payment of 25% of Fastnet’s back costs from 1 October 2013 to 1 January 2014.
SK Innovation will pay 100% of Fastnet’s 12.5% share of the cost of the first exploration well subject to a maximum gross well cost of £61million.
And in the event that the second well is a further exploration well, SK Innovation will again pay 100% of Fastnet’s 12.5% share of the costs to a maximum of £61 million.
“The farmout of half of our interest in the Foum Assaka Block provides Fastnet with a very low-cost opportunity to participate in the drilling of a high profile, potentially high reward well in what we view as one of the industry’s hottest new exploration areas,” said Fastnet executive director.
The Foum Assaka Block is operated by Kosmos and partners include BP, Fastnet subsidiary Pathfiner, SK Innovation and Morocco’s National Bureau of Petroleum and Mines.