JSE-listed oil and gas firm, CAMAC Energy (Gambia), had granted a deal for the acquisition of a 3D seismic survey to Polarcus Limited, a marine geophysical company, it emerged on Monday.

According to Camac, the survey will traverse about 1.504 km2 in the company’s A2 and A5 blocks offshore Gambia, the tiny West African country. The purpose of the seismic survey is to improve the definition and maturation of prospective projects in the blocks.

Segun Omidele, Senior VP of Exploration and Production at Camac (Gambia), described this acquisition as being very important to the firm’s exploration programme in Gambia. “We are encouraged by the recent discoveries north of us and excited that we are able to contract with Polarcus,” Omidele said. “Given their in-place infrastructure, we are able to start almost immediately with the 3D seismic acquisition.”

Camac Energy, which owns Camac Gambia, recently said another of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Camac Petroleum, had won a five-year $100 million senior secured term loan from Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s biggest bank.

It is understood that US dollar borrowings under the term loan facility will bear interest at the rate of LIBOR plus 7.5 percent.
Camac will use proceeds from the loan to further expand and develop OMLs 120 and 121 offshore Nigeria.

“This new credit facility provides Camac Energy with flexible funding at a reasonable cost to continue development of the Oyo Field,” Earl McNiel, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of Camac Energy, said at the time. “The dramatic increases in production and cash flow we expect to achieve at Oyo will drive near-term growth and enable us to pursue our high-impact exploration program”.