hey wgNoble announcement June 8"The first target to be drilled...

hey wg

Noble announcement June 8
"The first target to be drilled is the Kora prospect in the northern part of the block, nearly 65 miles offshore in approximately 8,600 feet of water. The Kora prospect has a Cretaceous oil target with gross resources estimated at 450 million barrels of oil equivalent. The chance of success at the prospect is estimated by Noble Energy to be 20 percent. Total well depth is planned to be approximately 15,200 feet. Drilling is anticipated to begin in late June 2011 utilizing the Maersk Deliverer rig, with results expected by the end of August 2011."

8600f = 2622m 15200f = 4634m
total planned drill depth is about 2000m

I think there's a good chance that Noble wanted to tweak the well design and location after reviewing the data and plans.

Also, bare in mind that the 24 day 1600m drill comes from the 25th of March Kora well update by FAR. This precedes operational deficiencies in Ghana and the figures themselves likely precede the resignation of the rig manager in February.

Even if we use the original figures as accurate guidelines we still won't reach the target depth for 30 days (2000/67).

So question is do we trust FAR or Noble?

And with the cone of silence/ embargo, I'm not entirely convinced that we'll hear about hydrocarbons as soon as they're found either. Wouldn't surprise me if we only get an announcement at planned depth and another after test results are analyzed.