The two licences, Petroleum Prospecting Licence No:337 (PPL 337) and Petroleum Prospecting Licence No:437 (PPL 437) have gross areas of about 5,508 km² and 1,530km² respectively.
Heritage will earn a 70% working interest in PPL 337 and be appointed as operator, and own a 30% working interest in PPL 437, with an option to acquire a further 20% interest and operatorship.
In return for earning a 70% working interest and operatorship in PPL 337, wells of which are slated for 2014, the company will fund the costs of drilling two shallow exploration wells.
Heritage will also make a $500,000 contribution to Kina Petroleum’s back costs on the license and will carry Kina Petroleum’s costs of up to 100km of appraisal seismic data in the event of a discovery.
Located within the south eastern part of the North New Guinea basin, in the Ramu Sub asin, the principal targets of PPL 337 include the large Banam anticline with an area of over 200km² and potential reef structures in the north of the license.
PPL 437 license is located in a hydrocarbon system less than 20km north of the Elevala and Ketu c.1.0 TCF gas condensate fields.
Heritage Oil CEO Tony Buckingham said the Papua New Guinea region will provide an opportunity for highly commercial exploration in prolific hydrocarbon provinces.
"We believe these farm-ins to be key additions to our existing license portfolio in Papua New Guinea, entered into earlier this year, and view this region as a core area of our exploration portfolio," Buckingham said.
