Madagascar farm out before costly well

With ExxonMobil looking for a rig to drill on its Ampasindava permit’s Sifaka prospect in H2 2009, the US giant’s 30% partner Sterling Energy is set to farm out part of its stake and thus reduce its share of the huge costs implied by working in the Madagascar offshore (AE 127/16). Industry sources put the well’s cost at some $180m-200m, which is likely to comfortably exceed Sterling’s remaining carry.