The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity.
Following up on our recent conversation with Sonoro Energy Ltd. (TSXV:SNV) CEO Greg Renwick, we had the opportunity to spend some time with Director and Chairperson of the Board Sara Akbar, who shared her perspective and vision for the company.
TMO: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and your journey that led you to becoming Director and Chairperson for Sonoro?
Akbar: I started my career as a petroleum engineer. I was the first female field engineer in Kuwait back in 1981, and I worked for 10 years as a field engineer.
I worked onshore and offshore and I loved every single minute. Then we had the invasion, as you remember, in 1990 and from there we had 735 wells on fire. We decided to create our own firefighting team, and I became an oil well firefighter. That’s my claim to fame, as a matter of fact, because my team put out 42 wells of those 735.
After that I was promoted in various positions. I really pride myself as being a very good oil and gas engineer.
In 2005, I created the first upstream oil and gas private company in the region, and it was super successful. We discovered a field in Iraq, which had 3 billion barrels. In 2017 we sold the company to a Chinese company. It was a very good deal for us.
In that company we had assets in Egypt, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Russia and Ukraine. We were producing about 50,000 barrels a day and we had about 800 million barrels of 2P reserves. So, we grew the company from zero to that in 10 years’ time, and then we sold it.
Currently, I’m the partner for Oilserv in Kuwait. I look after Kuwait and Iraq. I’m very passionate about business in Iraq. It is the one country in the world where you have huge potential for both developmental fields and exploration.
As a matter of fact, they have already discovered about 80 different fields. Currently the developed fields to their potential is no more like 30 fields. The rest are in the process of either being developed or they are waiting for people to come and develop them.
I think almost 20% of the total land in Iraq has been covered with some kind of 3D or 2D size. So, exploration potential is huge as well and that again is an opportunity. Recently the Iraqi Oil Minister was in Washington and Houston. They are trying to invite American companies to come and explore for oil and gas in Iraq. This is because in the last 10 years the Iraqi upstream opened up. Most of the companies that actually came in were Chinese companies.
Now the Iraqi government wants more American and Western companies. This is a beautiful opportunity for Sonoro Energy because we are seriously looking at a couple of opportunities there, like we did with Kuwait Energy.
We had three blocks, mainly two gas blocks and one oil block and a very nice arrangements in Iraq. That’s why we are very keen to get some assets for Sonoro in Iraq and that’s a big part of what we’re trying to drive here.
That’s one of the main reasons why I’m actually on the board of Sonoro Energy. I believe a company like Sonoro can have great opportunities here. Not only in the light oil and gas areas, but even with heavy oil.
If you have light oil not being discovered and not developed, no one is going to look at heavy oil at this point in time but, the potential is enormous. I think within the next five to 10 years there will be huge potential for heavy oil.
As you know, through our operations in Canada, we apply a lot of technology. We can actually bring a lot of those technologies not only in Iraq, but also in Kuwait, Libya and parts of the world that seriously have not looked at heavy oil. Although we have huge amounts of heavy oil.
We are working on a couple of opportunities here that we are trying to mature. Negotiations with governments are under way in order to build a portfolio for Sonoro.
TMO: This is fascinating. Now I know that yourself and Greg, the new CEO of Sonoro, have worked together in the Middle East in the past. So, let’s talk about your experience working with Greg.
Akbar: I knew Greg when I was working as a business development manager at KUFPEC (Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co.). Greg was a person, he never got it wrong. This is what amazed me. Exploration sometimes the success rate in international, it’s about 30%-35%, but with Greg it’s always 80%-90%. He always amazed me on his investment decisions and his ability to identify good opportunities, evaluate them and actually capture them.
So, I was looking to see whom should I bring or who should we bring as CEO? I couldn’t think of anyone better than Greg because of that actual experience I had with him.
I’ve been following, even since he left Kuwait and he went back to Dallas. I’ve been following what he was doing and it was super interesting. That’s why I asked, Greg to come on board and together we create magic here.
TMO: So, how do you plan to advance Sonoro’s plans and aspirations in the Middle East?
Akbar: We are working with two different companies to actually acquire some assets in Iraq. We are looking at Libya in the same kind of context to develop some assets we have in Canada. So, the portfolio will have production, near-term development, and a little bit of exploration as well. That’s the kind of portfolio we would like to develop for Sonoro Energy. One that gives it sustainable kind of production and cash flows over a long period of time.
TMO: Sara, is there anything else that you would like to share with our viewers today?
Akbar: What I would like to share is we are taking solid steps here in order to build the portfolio. We have some projects in hand now. We took over the management and the leadership of this company just recently. I think we need a couple of months before we mature these opportunities and capture them. I hope that the investors in the company have a little patience. I’m sure it will pay off as we are all investors in this company. We would all like to see the success of Sonoro Energy.
You can find Sonoro Energy Ltd. on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SNV or head to its website sonoroenergy.com for more information.
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