Bowleven, the Africa focused oil and gas group with a key interests in Cameroon, has announced that it has been informed by New Age (African Global Energy) Limited, the operator of the Etinde JV, that New Age has received a Notification of Termination from a subsidiary of Perenco S.A. which terminates the conditional sale of New Age’s participating interests in the Etinde permit, and operatorship of the Etinde JV, to Perenco, which was announced by Bowleven on 7 June 2022

The Company has commenced discussions with its Etinde Joint Venture partners with the aim of agreeing an updated development plan and work programme for Etinde.

“The termination of the Transaction between New Age and Perenco, is unfortunate as we believed it could have represented an opportunity to accelerate development progress at Etinde. We will now need to re-address the proposed development plan with our Joint Venture partners, as well as with the regulatory authorities, to assess the efforts now required to secure FID. We will update shareholders in relation to Etinde developments in due course,” Eli Chahin, Chief Executive Officer of Bowleven plc, said.

In September 2023, Bowleven has issued an update on the pending Cameroon asset sale. This is despite the elapse of time since the signing of the agreements for the sale by New Age (African Global Energy) Limited of its 37.5% stake in, and the operatorship of, the Etinde project to Perenco S.A., completion remains outstanding.

Bowleven stated that a number of conditions to the completion of the Transaction remain unsettled, most notable the approval of state oil and gas company Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures (SNH). The company has noted that SNH’s approval, the next key milestone towards completion of the Transaction, has remained outstanding for a significant period and it has remained uncertain until the present termination of contract.