Heramec Plans Sale of Cambay Assets

Heramec Ltd. is reportedly planning to sell half its stake in six onshore blocks it co-owns with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in India’s Cambay basin to Canadian Stealth Ventures Ltd.

The Mint newspaper reported the six blocks were the Allora, Dholasan, Kanwara, North Kathana, Asjol and North Balol Blocks. Heramec currently holds a 30% stake in all of the blocks and is the operator of the Allora, Dholasan, Kanwara and North Kathana Blocks.

However the paper quoted an unnamed GSPC executive as saying the company was considering the option of buying the stake Heramec wants to divest.

“Stealth will bring technical leverage with it, although their expertise is yet to be proven on-field,” the GSPC executive said.

“Being a majority stakeholder in these blocks, GSPC will have to shell out the expenses accordingly, and this is our prime concern, especially since the fields are very unsatisfactory from the last two-three years.

“Also, no budget has been approved by [the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons] from the last two years for these blocks, and we do not know the exact potential of these fields.”

In April, Stealth announced it had entered into a Letter of Intent for the acquisition of working interests in certain producing oil & gas fields in SE Asia, subject to various approvals and consents, including regulatory approvals.

Should the deal proceed, Stealth would help increase output from the blocks through its technological expertise in shale gas exploration. According to the Mint, Stealth plans to increase production on the six blocks using horizontal drilling techniques that involve a multi-stage fracturing technique to release hydrocarbons trapped between rocks.

Stealth, which states its expertise and focus is on unconventional hydrocarbon resources from shale, CBM and tight sand reservoirs, has been focused on initiatives of assembling a portfolio of unconventional and conventional oil & gas resource plays in India and SE Asia.