Page 9 - AfrOil Week 33 2019

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil
BW Energy spuds exploration well at Hibiscus Updip offshore Gabon
THE Anglo-Norwegian company BW Energy and its partners have begun drilling a new ver- tical exploration well at Hibiscus Updip, a pros- pect within the Dussafu Marin contract area o shore Gabon.
Panoro Energy, one of the shareholders in the project, said in a statement that the group was using the Borr Norve, a jack-up rig owned by Borr Drilling, to sink the DHIBM-1 well at a site located about 56km from the shore in 116-metre-deep waters.
DHIBM-1 will allow the companies to test the Gamba and Dentale reservoirs, which have yielded signi cant amounts of hydrocarbons elsewhere, it noted.
“ e DHIBM-1 well is also located approx- imately 1.5km south-west of the Hibiscus well (HIBM-1) drilled by Arco in 1991 based on 2-D seismic data, and which found good-qual- ity Gamba reservoir with live oil shows,” Pan- oro said in its statement. “The new well is positioned to intersect the Gamba at what is believed, based on 3-D seismic data acquired by Panoro in 2013, to be an updip position from the HIBM-1 well.”
Following the completion of DHIBM-1, the Borr Norve will move to Tortue, another sec- tion of Dussafu Marin. It will drill four hori- zontal production wells there before shi ing to
another location to sink one more exploration well within the framework of a six-well drilling campaign.
According to Panoro, the group is still work- ing to decide exactly where to sink the sixth sha . “ e location of the 2020 exploration well will be based on 3-D seismic data that is being currently re-processed with the latest tech- niques,” the company explained. “Based on the results of the processing and exploration wells, a further two additional exploration wells may be drilled once the initial six-well campaign has been completed.”
John Hamilton, Panoro’s CEO, said the drill- ing campaign was likely to enhance the com- pany’s portfolio. “ e Hibiscus Updip prospect has been matured using 3-D seismic and has the potential, if successful, to add substantial resources, which would be brought into pro- duction alongside the Ruche and Ruche North East elds as part of Phase 3 on the Dussafu permit,” he said.
BW Energy serves as the operator of Dussafu Marin and holds a 73.5% stake in the block. e remaining equity in the project is split between Tullow, with 10%; Gabon Oil Co., with 9%, and Panoro, with 7.5%. Dussafu Marin began commercial production last year, when Tortue achieved rst oil. ™
Panoro Energy
Week 33 20•August•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P9