Rex eyes Oman offshore oil production by year end

Rex International, together with its subsidiaries, currently holds a 92.65 per cent indirect stake in Masirah Oil Ltd, which holds a 100 per cent interest in the Block 50 concession. It is almost 17,000sqkm in size.

‘In Oman, the company is looking to put the GA South asset into production at the end of 2019, which if successful, will generate revenue. The plan is to finance this mainly through off-balance sheet financing,’ Rex International said in a filing to the Singapore Exchange.

The company said it achieved a record net profit of US$26.29mn for the quarter ending June 30, 2019, following the group’s sales of interests in certain assets in Norway. ‘Rex’s war chest has been bolstered by the Norway transaction, to a total of US$70.75mn in liquid assets comprising cash, cash equivalents and quoted investments, as of June 30, 2019.’

The GA South discovery was made in 2014, and is the first-ever offshore oil discovery east of Oman.

Rex International said it remains long-term debt free as of June 30, 2019 and is confident of its potential prospects in Oman. Rex International’s subsidiary Masirah Oil Ltd has to date more than US$100mn in its cost pool, the company added.

M?ns Lidgren, chief executive officer of Rex International said, “The Norway transaction is a fruition of our business strategy as set out in our initial public offering document; that is, to find oil using our liquid hydrocarbon indicator technology Rex Virtual Drilling, sell oil-in-the-ground and recycle capital. Although we achieved discoveries in Oman and Norway respectively, this monetisation strategy could not be executed during the oil price rout which started in 2014 until early this year when an opportunity to divest arose. While we will continue with this proven strategy for our operations in Norway, our plan for value creation in Oman remains to achieve first oil by end-2019.”