| Wed 24 Jul 2002, 0:00 | | Energy chairman's statement at AGM |
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Energy Africa Limited - Chairman`s Statement To AGM
ENERGY AFRICA LIMITED
Registration number: 1995/007140/06
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
JSE code: ENR
ISIN code: ZAE000010427
CHAIRMAN`S STATEMENT TO AGM
[Cape Town, 24 July 2002] The Annual General Meeting of Energy Africa Ltd was
held in Cape Town today. Chairman Dato` Idris Mansor outlined the company`s
continuing success during the past year and made the following comments:
"It is now one year on since I announced the management changes at last year`s
AGM and in particular the appointment of Rhidwaan Gasant as your company`s new
Managing Director. I am pleased to confirm that the new executive committee has
indeed proved to be a strong and mutually supportive team, and has already made
significant strides in moving the Company forward.
In this regard, in my statement accompanying this year`s Annual Report I used
the expression "phenomenal success" to describe our drilling activities in
Equatorial Guinea and I believe this expression to be absolutely appropriate,
with four successive further discoveries since this time last year.
As I mentioned in my statement at the start of the Annual Report there has also
been encouraging progress in a number of other areas during the twelve months
since I last addressed you, most notably:-
* the significant increases in both commercial oil reserves (22%) and
potentially commercial reserves (118%);
* a 21% increase in production to 21,400 barrels per day;
* an increase in cash flow despite the lower oil price;
* in respect of development projects in the UKCS, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and
Congo; and
* acquisition of new exploration acreage in Uganda (in one of our Blocks there
drilling should commence next month), Mauritania and Gabon.
There has been some disappointment also, most notably the two Kudu appraisal
wells offshore Namibia have failed to prove up the reserves that would have been
necessary for progressing Shell`s floating liquefied natural gas plans for that
field. Discussions are still taking place on the way ahead for Kudu.
We are now moving on in Equatorial Guinea to drill prospects in parts of Blocks
F and G away from the Okume/Oveng complex of discoveries (including some in
deeper water) and we are confident of still further success, although of course
we cannot expect every well to be a discovery and some will be drilled partly
for purposes of geological and seismic information. For example the most recent
well to be drilled to test a previously unexplored reservoir system, the F3 well
in Block F, was not a commercial success. Nevertheless it did encounter a
potential oil source rock interval below the primary target, with interbedded
sands and good oil shows. This indicates a working oil system in the previously
undrilled central section of Block F and offers significant encouragement for
future exploration of the numerous trap types in the Block.
The active development program will require external funding - $50 million
limited recourse facility secured in the past year will be augmented by another
tranche of debt. Additional funding will be required when the optimised
development of the Okume/Oveng complex is implemented and there is more time to
consider the available options in this regard.
Last year I restated our objective of making discoveries and acquisitions of a
magnitude that could double or treble the size of the company. The continuing
success in Equatorial Guinea and the considerable further prospectivity that
remains in our Blocks there certainly demonstrate the achievability of this
objective but we intend also to continue with aggressive exploration programs
elsewhere which have the capacity to add very significantly to the company`s
reserve base and to its production capacity. The important additions to our
exploration portfolio, which I mentioned earlier, bear testament to the
Company`s progress in relation to this objective.
The overall intent is that the Company should achieve substantial future growth
in its net asset value per share. We believe that, particularly in light of the
excellent track record of the Company in this respect, the most appropriate way
for the Company to seek to achieve its ambitious growth targets is through
continuing the focus on exploration opportunities in and offshore Africa, where
the expertise of those working for your company has been concentrated and where
they enjoy most respect.
In addition to changes to the executive management team which I announced when I
spoke to you twelve months ago, there have also as you are by now aware, been
some further changes to the Board, with the appointment in the last few months
of both Tunku M. Fawzy bin Muhiyiddin, Engen`s new Chief Executive Officer, and
George Paul to the Board as non-executive directors and, on your behalf, I
should like to welcome them both.
I should also like, once again, to record my thanks and appreciation to Almorie
Maule and to Ahmad Said both of whom resigned during the year for their
contributions to the Company as board members.
Your Company has continued on its remarkable growth path over the last twelve
months, and I look forward to being able to report to you in twelve months` time
that that growth path has continued unrelentingly in the ensuing period."
ENDS
For more information about Energy Africa see: www.energyafrica.com
Enquiries:
In Cape Town:
Energy Africa
Rhidwaan Gasant
+27 21 400 7600
CIH
Tamra Veley
+27 21 426 1233
In London:
College Hill
Nicholas Williams
+44 20 7457 2020
Date: 24/07/2002 02:55:10 PM Produced by the JSE SENS Department
