By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Feb. 15 -- The National Hydrocarbons Agency awarded Taghmen Energy PLC, London, operatorship and 70% interest in the Midas block near producing fields in the Middle Magdalena Valley.

Taghmen has 30 days to enter the license agreement and establish the appropriate corporate structure to hold the license.

The initial six-year work program calls for spending $1.5 million to reprocess and acquire 2D seismic data late in 2006. The block has several leads that could hold as much as a gross 90 million bbl recoverable.

Governing the license is an updated contract that eliminates the government's right of back-in and reduces the tax level, Taghmen said.