Rex to Create New JV for Lime Petroleum and Porto Novo Interests

Rex International Holding Limited’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Rex International Investments Pte. Ltd. (RII) has entered into a joint venture with Monarch Marine Holding Ltd (MMH) and Peter M. Steimler to hold Lime Petroleum AS and Porto Novo Resources Ltd under a new joint venture company incorporated under the laws of Norway.

Rex currently holds a 91.65 percent interest in Lime Petroleum, which has interests in offshore licenses in Norway. Porto Novo is 67.9 percent held by Rex International Holding Ltd., 29.1 percent held by MMH and three percent held by PS.

Porto Novo was incorporated in December 2023 in the British Virgin Islands to own and operate offshore oil and gas assets in Africa, including 100% in Akrake Petroleum Benin AS, Rex said in a news release.

According to the release, the new joint venture allows Rex to amalgamate the Lime Petroleum and Porto Novo assets in Norway and Africa under a single entity, in order to leverage Lime Petroleum’s access to the Norwegian bond market to raise funds in U.S. dollars at the subsidiary level, for refinancing Lime Petroleum’s existing bond, as well as for exploration, development and production activities and general working capital in Norway and Africa. Rex added that the decision was made “against the backdrop of more and more banks shying away from financing fossil fuel companies”.

Completion of the investments in the new joint venture will take place within 90 days of the date of the agreement or on a date as determined by Rex. Upon completion, Rex’s effective interest in Lime Petroleum will be reduced to 76.75 percent and its interest in Porto Novo will increase to 83.74 percent.

Masirah Completes Multi-Well Program in Oman

Meanwhile, Rex subsidiary Masirah Oil Limited (MOL) has completed its multi-well program in the offshore Yumna Field in Oman’s Block 50, ahead of the 90-day schedule and below budget. MOL is the operator and holds a 100 percent interest in the asset.

The Yumna-5 well, which was spudded in March at the crest of the structure to drain attic oil left un-swept by the current producers, started production on April 26.

MOL said in a separate news release that the evaluation of the performance of Yumna-5 is continuing. The multi-well program also included a work-over of the Yumna-4 well, on top of originally planned work-overs of Yumna-2 and Yumna-3.

MOL added that production from the Yumna Field is being optimized, pending plans to improve and increase the fluid production capacity of the flowline after the monsoon season in September.

Rex describes itself as a multinational oil exploration and production company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited’s Mainboard. The company has interests in exploration and production licenses in Norway, Oman and Benin, and holds operatorship of the assets in Oman and Benin.

Rex said that it derisks its portfolio of exploration and development assets using its proprietary liquid hydrocarbon indicator Rex Virtual Drilling technology, which can identify liquids in the sub-surface using seismic data. The company has achieved four offshore discoveries, one in Oman and three in Norway, according to the release.

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