Petro Matad is set to kick off its 2019 exploration and appraisal campaign targeting a series of low-cost, near-field and low-risk targets. Drill sites for the three Block XX wells have been constructed and management expects drilling to begin in July 2019. Prospects Heron-1 and Gazelle-1 are analogous to producing fields to the north-east in Block XIX, while Red Deer-1 is more material at 48mmbbls and is located further away from known oil. Petro Matad is funded for 2019 from the net proceeds of equity raised in 2018. However, additional funding would be required to commit to additional exploration and to support G&A in 2020. We update our valuation based on the company’s increased estimate of Heron-1 prospective resources at 25mmbbls (gross) from 16mmbbls. Our risked valuation stands at 21.6p/share (+6%), which we expect to revisit post-drill.
