Mediterranean Oil & Gas has extended the exploration period of its production sharing contract in waters off Malta by 18 months.
It said the extension should allow it to further analyse acreage and “hopefully identify attractive drilling targets”.
The PSC will now run until 18 January 2013. Under the terms of the extension, the partner companies will pay a US$0.3 million bonus in July 2010 and acquire 1,000 square kilometres (sq km) of 3D seismic data by January 2012.
The company is currently in advanced negotiations to farm out 75 percent of Area 4 in the south of Malta.
It hopes that the seismic survey will identify further prospects in the area and make the drilling of an exploration well attractive.