News: Nido Petroleum to drill Indonesia oil and gas well

Nido Petroleum (ASX:NDO) expects operator Lundin Petroleum (STO:LUPE, TSE:LUP) to spud in late September 2014 the Gobi-1  oil and gas exploration well in the Gurita production sharing contract offshore Indonesia.

Raising interest is the fact that the Gurita PSC is adjacent to a number of major oil and gas discoveries including the Belida Field to the northeast, which had Reserves of 350 million barrels and peak production of 140,000 barrels of oil per day.

Lundin had advised that the rig for drilling the well would be available to the joint venture in September. Nido has a 10% working interest in the Gurita PSC.

Gobi-1 targets multiple stacked Oligocene aged sandstones.

Nido is the target of a conditional off-market all-cash takeover offer of $0.055 per shares from BCP Energy International, a major shareholder with a 19.66% interest in the company.

This represented a 62% premium to 1 month Nido VWAP and has been unanimously recommended by Nido’s directors.

BCPE's Offer is fully funded and backed by its parent company, Thailand’s The Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Limited, which is capitalised at 43.4 billion baht (A$1.46 billion).

Nido’s existing oil production from the Galoc and Nido/Matinloc oil fields of 174,622 barrels and 9,265 barrels respectively during the June 2014 quarter were certainly drawcards for BCPE.

The company also recorded proceeds of $19.1 million from the production and ended the quarter with $18.5 million in cash.