Mauritania Continues To Perform For London-Listed Explorers The first wells in the latest round of exploration and appraisal drilling off the coast of Mauritania have done nothing to tarnish this emerging oil province’s early promise. The initial results from Woodside Energy’s aggressive “batch” drilling campaign, which uses the West Navigator drillship for the upper parts of the wells while the Stena Tay drills the bottom hole target sections, appear to confirm that the Australian oil independent and its joint ventures partners, many of them AIM-quoted minnows that could see their fortunes transformed by the current drilling campaign, have invested wisely in the northwest African state.
The Tevet-1 exploration well in PSC B has encountered a gross hydrocarbon column of 114 metres, comprising at least a 70 metre gas leg and 44 metre oil leg. The well, drilled in 489 metres of water some 80 km southwest of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, lies within potential tie-back distance, about 10 km, of the Chinguetti oil development.
Woodside’s partners in PSC B are Hardman Resources (21.6 per cent), BG (13.084 per cent), Premier Oil (9.231 per cent) and ROC Oil (3.693 per cent).
Charles Jamieson, chief executive of Premier Oil, which has flagged in the exploration stakes in recent months, described the well results as “an excellent start to our drilling campaign in Mauritania”. For seasoned explorers Hardman and ROC, this latest discovery promises additional upside for their investors.
The Stena Tay is now set to move to the site of Dorade-1 well in PSC 2 in order to drill the bottom section of the well. Dorade-1 was drilled in waters 1,670 metres deep some 165 km southwest of Nouakchott and 85 km southwest of Chinguetti. Partners in PSC 2 are Woodside (operator with 48 per cent), Hardman (28.8 per cent), ROC (3.2 per cent) and Tullow Oil (formerly Energy Africa, 20 per cent).
An appraisal well on the Tiof oil field, also in PSC B, has also been successful. Tiof-3, drilled in 1,198 metres of water some 25 km north of Chinguetti, encountered a gross column of 134 metres, in line with pre-drill expectations. The well will now be sidetracked to further test the reservoir.
The next batch of results will come from the Capitaine-1 exploration well and another appraisal well on Tiof, followed by further Tiof appraisal results and news from the Merou-1 exploration well.
It’s an ambitious programme, although the E&A work will halt around November/December to allow the two rigs to focus on development drilling on the 120 million barrel Chinguetti oil pool in PSC B. Phase 1 of this development, thought to cost around US$600 million, will involve six production wells, four water injection wells plus a gas disposal well to inject the unused associated gas in Chinguetti into the Banda gas reservoir. The field will be produced at a rate of 75,000 bpd through an FPSO leased from Norwegian firm Bergesen Offshore.
The Stena Tay is expected to resume exploration drilling in March 2005 while the West Navigator continues work on Chinguetti through until the third quarter of 2005. < back
HDR Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
