Tower Resources plc provided an update on activity in respect of its Thali Production Sharing Contract (PSC), in the Rio Del Rey sedimentary basin offshore Cameroon. The company also announced that it expects to complete shortly a letter of intent (LOI) with Shelf Drilling to cover the drilling and testing of the NJOM-3 well in the fourth quarter of 2022, using the Shelf Drilling Trident VIII jack-up drilling unit. The terms of the draft LOI are confidential, but in line with market levels and the company's current budget for the well.

With rig day-rates, fuel and other costs all having risen during the past year, the overall budget for the well is around 20% higher than the original figure of around USD 15 million, but with some USD 4 million of the cost already incurred and all long lead items already purchased, Tower currently estimates the remaining cost at around USD 14 million. It should be stressed that among the budget uncertainties is the number of separate zones that the Company will wish to test, however it should also be understood that if it choose to test more productive zones separately, then this will be because the well prognosis is closer to the upper end of expectations. During the last six months the company has also continued to work on both the subsurface dataset and also the plans for additional wells and early production from the Njonji structure, following the drilling of the NJOM-3 well.

The updated dataset has allowed to further clarify the NJOM-3 well objectives, and Tower has also had the opportunity to discuss alternative platform and Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) designs with potential contractors and partners, which it is hoped will accelerate the next steps following a successful NJOM-3 well test.