Dear Friends and Investors,
To strike the right note when addressing the third quarter can be a bit of a challenge. The year is three quarters done so a lot of what will happen in the year has happened. But not enough to allow for a complete review and closing and the upcoming year is still too far off to warrant a full outlook. But there are always highlights and on those I will try to focus.
First, Blocks 3&4. Our non-operated 30% interest continues to offer the bulk of revenue and production. During the quarter we have seen Tethys’ share of production stabilizing above 8,000 bbl per day and opex per barrel come down compared to the second quarter. It is of course too early to say that the trend of lower production and rising costs have been broken, but it is certainly a step in that direction. The operator is indicating an increased focus on near-field appraisal and exploration opportunities for the upcoming months and the new appraisal program of the Lower Al Bashair reservoir, that once produced in the Farha field, is a promising activity in the fourth quarter. There are more details on the production stabilizing activities in the operations section but let us leave Blocks 3&4 on a slightly positive note.
However, dare I say, more important for the future are the activities in Block 56. The extended well test on the Al Jumd discovery was successfully concluded and close to 40,000 barrels sold during the quarter. Al Jumd has production potential and is a founding steppingstone towards the commercialization of Block 56.
The 3D seismic that we acquired last year has yielded unexpectedly good results in the so-called Eastern Flank area to the southwest of Al Jumd and a string of Al Jumd look-alikes are emerging. One of the largest of these, the Menna prospect, will be tested by the Menna-1 well in December. Shortly thereafter the Sarha-3 well that we drilled last year will be worked over and retested.
These activities will build on the Al Jumd foundation and combined with the overall prospectivity of the Eastern Flank will form the backbone of the field development plan that is in preparation. There is certainly still geological risk in Block 56 but there are so many opportunities that any early setback should be overcome by additional work.
Focus for the fourth quarter and for the field development plan will be on further evaluation and incorporating the Al Jumd production data into the plan, recalculate the Al Jumd resource base, test the Sarha-3 well and drill and test Menna. If these activities prove sufficiently successful, then a field development plan should take firmer shape during the first quarter.
We now have a further year to develop our plans after the license extension was granted and let me take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals for their support and encouragement.
Leaving the highlight scene let us not forget the ongoing preparation for retesting Thameen on Block 49 and the ever-growing prospective resource base on Block 58.
So stay with us, we are in for more growth activity than we have been for a long time and in mid-November a dividend of SEK 2.00 per share will be transferred to you, our shareholders
Stockholm, November 2023
Magnus Nordin
Managing Director