Bayfield Alpha is a 74 per cent. shareholder in AGOC, which is a Russian operating company based in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia. AGOC was awarded a 100 per cent. interest in the Karalatsky Licence in October 2006 which has an initial exploration term of nine years.
The Karalatsky Block (1,500 km 2 ) is located within the lightly explored southern onshore portion of the Volga delta. This region is part of the emerging Northern Caspian petroleum province where two billion boe (68 per cent. oil, 32 per cent. gas) have been discovered in the last 10 years. No wells have been drilled in the Karalatsky Block but a 1,000 km seismic programme carried out in 2007-2008 identified a shallow (1,300 m) Jurassic play with numerous leads which is underlain by the Paleozoic Karakul fold belt. |