Seismic survey off Guinea to expand

Nov. 12, 2003
HyperDynamics Corp. subsidiary SCS Corp.'s management committee is planning to greatly expand the company's acquisition program offshore the Republic of Guinea, West Africa. The 2D program is expected to grow from 4,000 km to as much as 24,000 km.

HyperDynamics Corp. subsidiary SCS Corp.'s management committee is planning to greatly expand the company's acquisition program offshore the Republic of Guinea, West Africa. The 2D program is expected to grow from 4,000 km to as much as 24,000 km.

The 4,000-km acquisition program now underway began in late September and will be completed this month. The existing program targets a specific quadrant of the concession and was designed using the results of the seismic analysis work performed by SCS on the data acquired in 2002.

According to Neil Moore, president of SCS, "The results to date have convinced us that we have a unique opportunity, and the economics appear favorable to negotiate the acquisition of an additional 20,000 km of new 2D seismic data. This will give us a grid over the entire offshore concession and will allow us to begin evaluating other areas of the concession�. As we move forward and are able to drill our first well, we expect that this additional coverage will help us support the characteristics of a working petroleum system or systems as the case may be."

The next step would be to pinpoint a focused 3D seismic acquisition program.

"Once we get to the 3D analysis stage, our processing and intense modeling should lead quickly to our drilling program," Moore said.

Kent Watts, chairman and CEO of HyperDynamics, said, "Our management committee has determined that the timing is right to expand our data acquisition. The oil and gas industry economics and market valuations are increasingly favorable for small E&P companies that hold foreign concessions, especially during these times of tight supply and growing demand. It is important to note that the capital markets have woken up to these facts as money is flowing into small aggressive companies that have the potential to supply the hydrocarbons our country desperately needs."

Watts cited companies including Environmental Remediation, with minority holdings offshore West Africa, Ivanhoe Energy, with a 900,000-acre block in China, and Far East Energy, also with a concession in China, as companies that are increasing shareholder value through international ventures.

11/12/03