Karoon Gas Australia Ltd is trying to sell a stake in its Brazilian offshore oil-exploration blocks as it plans to start a $120 million to $150 million drilling program, its top South American executive said. Karoon has hired Brazilian investment Bank BTG Pactual to find a "farm-out" partner for its five blocks in the Santos Basin off Brazil's Santa Catarina state, the executive, Tim Hosking, said.Karoon, which owns 65 percent of the blocks, will pay for the current, two-well drilling plan along with its 35 percent partner, Canadian oil company Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp . But Hosking wants to find a third partner to purchase 15 percent of the blocks and help pay for future development."BTG Pactual has talked with several companies, but the market is a bit weak," Hosking said, adding that the new wells they plan to drill should expand on recent discoveries and make finding a partner easier.Karoon and Pacific Rubiales plan to start drilling the first of the initial two wells next week. The objective of the first well is to evaluate the extent of the Kangaroo-1 discovery.
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (Pacific Rubiales) is a producerand seller of natural gas and heavy crude oil. Shares of PRE fell by 2.86% or $-0.5/share to $17.00. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $14.80 and as high as $23.86. On average, 1897780 shares of PRE.TO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1195240.
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