Posted on :Tuesday , 22nd December 2015

Rhino Resources has announced it has expanded its African footprint with the recent acquisition of two offshore blocks in East Africa in the Comoros territorial waters.

The two offshore blocks in East Africa include Blocks 17 and 24 in the Comoros territorial waters off Mozambique in East Africa a total of 11,947 square kilometres currently awaiting ratification by the National Assembly.

“Rhino Resources is excited to further grow our portfolio in Africa and begin tapping into these resources in a way that will create highly skilled jobs and boost the regional economy,” said President and CEO Patrick Mulligan.

Blocks 17 and 24 border block R5-C in the Rovuma Basin, near Area 1 and Area 4, where Anadarko and ENI have confirmed more than 175 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.  Blocks 17 and 24 also border the southern portion of the Discover Exploration/Bahari Resources Limited blocks.

Rhino says that based on review of regional geological and seismic data, a potential oil play is also believed to exist at the rim of the Rovuma Basin.

The two additional licenses add to two blocks in Western Africa that Rhino Resources signed Production Sharing Agreements in June namely Blocks 3 and 4 in the AGC Senegal/Guinea-Bissau Cooperation Zone in West Africa.

These agreements total 5,500 square kilometres and were ratified by the High Authority in July. These two blocks are 140 kilometres southeast from the Dome Flore oil discovery, and appear to be on the same deep water depositional trend as the recent SNE-1 and FAN-1 discoveries further north in Senegal.

Rhino Resources’ also holds other offshore assets including: two blocks in Namibia, one of them bordering the Kudu Field; two blocks in the AGC Senegal/Guinea-Bissau Cooperation Zone; and two blocks in South Africa. The company is currently conducting environmental impact assessments on the two South African offshore blocks, as well as five onshore blocks in South Africa’s high potential northern Karoo Basin.

“We are optimistic that we will close several additional concessions across Africa by the first quarter of 2016,” Mulligan said