Patersons - JKA Somaliland significant upside

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Patersons - JKA Somaliland significant upside

AFRICAN explorer Jacka Resources has been rated a “speculative buy” by Patersons Securities on the back of some encouraging news from neighbouring acreage in Somaliland.
Jacka’s African portfolio includes shares in offshore assets in Tunisia and Nigeria and onshore permits in Tanzania and Somaliland.

Patersons sees particular upside in Somaliland, where Jacka owns 50% of a 22,000sq.km area known as the Odewayne block.

UK company Genel Energy, which is led by former BP chief executive officer Tony Hayward, recently farmed in to acreage adjacent to Jacka’s.

Patersons says Genel has 1.8 billion pounds in cash and is aggressively buying into prospective acreage in the Middle East and north Africa.

Genel has claimed prospective resources of more than 1 billion barrels at its Somaliland asset and has mapped out a work program that will include an exploration well in 2014.

Patersons also noted Ophir Energy, another Africa-focused, UK-based company, had recently farmed into the region.

“Whilst still early days in the region, the entry of Genel and Ophir are clearly an early endorsement of this frontier acreage that JKA secured in Somaliland as an early entrant in April 2012,” Patersons said.

The analyst said it had not included the Somaliland acreage in its valuation of Jacka “so it represents significant upside”.