Jim Stott
Special Correspondent-Calgary

There is only one way to take a smaller North American independent and turn it into an expanding producer in Africa with good growth prospects.
Slowly, with a great deal of due diligence and more than a pinch of North American entrepreneurship, says David Lyons, president and CEO of Pan-Ocean Energy Corp. Ltd.

The former small Alberta producer, once known as Ocelot Energy Inc., is now headquartered in the tax haven of Jersey, Channel Islands. Lyons is based in Winchester, near London.

In its operations in Gabon, the company has focused on development of low-cost, long-life light oil reserves. Pan-Ocean is now an established producer of light crude oil, both onshore and off Gabon. The company is producing more than 8,500 b/d of light crude and expects to increase that to 12,000 b/d by yearend, based on its current exploration, appraisal, and development drilling program.
Lyons says there is a real prospect of going to a production level of 20,000 b/d in the next 2 years. That points to the rationale for the company moving from Canada: declining Western Canadian oil reserves and the fact that many smaller companies hit "a glass ceiling" on production growth at about 10,000 b/d.