Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, Sept. 3 -- Recently listed DMV International, Perth, has signed a heads of agreement with unlisted fellow explorer Sphere Petroleum Pty. Ltd., also of Perth, to acquire a 20% interest in four West African permits.

Blocks 1 and 5B are off Guinea-Bissau, and Blocks 8 and 10 are onshore Mali.

In addition, DMV has an option that must be exercised by yearend to increase its interest in all four blocks to 50% and a further option to acquire equity in a fifth exploration project.

Guinea-Bissau Block 1 is in shallow water less than 200 m deep in an area of geological salt movement. There are shows and subeconomic accumulations in adjacent areas, including the Dome Flore biodegraded oil field to the north, which possibly contains 1 billion bbl of oil.

Guinea-Bissau Block 5B straddles the shallow-deepwater area where seismic work indicates some large leads in potential Cretaceous reservoirs similar to those that contain oil accumulations elsewhere off West Africa.