Sonoro Energy has announced the following operational and corporate updates.
Drilling Permit
The Company has received written correspondence from the Salah ad Din Province of Iraq regarding the status of the drilling permit application that the Company, through its subsidiary, Sonoro Energy Iraq BV, had submitted to the Federal Government of Iraq. Key highlights of this correspondence are as follows:
The Province is pleased with the progress and the effort of the Company and continues to support Sonoro under its license to enable it to commence exploration work as planned and is working closely with the required branches of the Federal Government to obtain consent for the planned drilling program. The Federal Government has requested clarification as to the specific area in which the initial drilling program will occur, Sonoro Iraq registration in Iraq and further items which were previously provided by the Company to the Province. The Province stated that it continues to follow up in order to receive final permits for drilling from the Federal Government, is working closely with the relevant ministries in Baghdad to complete the process, and that when the process is completed, Sonoro Iraq will receive the requested drilling permit.
The Company is pleased with the support, progress and the efforts being made by the Province and, in particular, the constructive coordination and cooperation the Province has had with various branches of the Federal Government. The Company has recently met with officials from the Federal Government and has now responded to the requests by addressing each of these points and expects Federal Government consent to proceed.
Drilling Rig
The drilling rig remains stacked in the Middle East and is ready for transport once the drill permit and import license have been obtained.
Exploration Opportunities
Exploration activities over the past 6 months have included an extensive exploration study based on our geological and geophysical data covering the license area and other parts of Iraq.
Within the shallower Tertiary reservoirs alone, the Company has now identified 47 individual leads and prospects across the Province. Of these, more than a half dozen prospects are believed to have sufficient data to be drillable with little additional data acquisition or analysis required.
Initial internal evaluations show these prospects have significant size, with some comparable to or larger than the North Salah ad Din and Sherqat prospects. This additional exploration work confirms that there is significant resource potential that remains to be identified and exploited, adding further support to the Company’s previously disclosed NI 51-101 report. That report outlined prospective resources exceeding 5 billion barrels in the Province based on estimates at that time.
Following the North Salah ad Din (“NSD”) and Sherqat programs, the Company is investigating how the current program may be extended to include drilling additional identified drillable exploration prospects.