Mauritania: Sterling quits C-3

Sterling Energy has opted to withdraw from offshore Block C-3, assigning its 40.5% stake to Tullow Oil at no cost. The company, which farmed into the block in February 2015, said the 2D seismic data had “not sufficiently derisked the block potential” to justify entering the next exploration phase, which involves 700km2 of 3D seismic and a well, but it remained committed to the adjacent Block C-10, where it farmed in in June. A well is planned on C-10 in 2017.