Page 9 - AfrOil Week 35 2019

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES
AfrOil
Noble Energy finds oil offshore Equatorial Guinea
EQUATORIAL Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons revealed last week that a US-based company has discovered new oil reserves at Block 1, an o shore licence area that lies east of Bioko Island.
In a statement, the ministry said that Noble Energy had found oil in Aseng-6P, a well drilled within the Aseng section of Block 1. It did not comment on the size of the discovery, but it did say that the well had been sunk to a depth of 4,417 metres.
“Noble is currently in the process of com- pleting the 400-metre horizontal section of the well, and, using existing Aseng eld infrastruc- ture, is expected to produce oil from October 2019,” it stated.
e company and its partners will accom- plish this task by connecting Aseng-6P to the oating production, storage and o -loading (FPSO) unit that they installed at the field nearly eight years ago. e FPSO, which SBM O shore of the Netherlands delivered to the eld in 2011, is already linked to ve develop- ment wells.
e statement quoted Gabriel Obiang Lima, Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, as saying that the discovery was a positive development for the country. “We are excited to announce this discovery, which couldnothavecomeatamoreopportunetime,”
he said. “We have been dedicated to develop- ing our resources to build a better economy and create opportunities for our people, and it seems we are gaining momentum.”
He added: “When companies drill o shore Equatorial Guinea their likelihood for a discov- eryisreal.”
Noble Energy owns a 40% stake in Block 1, which lies in 1,000-metre-deep water, and is serving as operator of the project. e remain- ing equity in the licence area is split between Abu Dhabi-based Atlas Petroleum, with 29%; Glencore Exploration, an a liate of the interna- tional commodities trader Glencore, with 25%, and Cyprus-registered Gunvor, with 6%. ™
Springfield Energy to use Stena Forth for Ghana’s first deepwater drilling deal
SPRINGFIELD Energy has arranged to use a drillship owned by Stena Drilling for the rst deepwater exploration drilling campaign in Ghana’s o shore zone.
The independent Ghanaian company revealed last week that it had signed a contract with Stena Drilling’s Ghanaian subsidiary for the use of the Stena Forth over a period of two months, beginning in late September a er the vessel wraps up a contract for work o shore Guyana. During that period, it stated, the drill- ship will sink two wells within two sections of a licence area known as West Cape ree Points Block 2 (WCTP Block 2).
Spring eld Energy will drill the rst well, Oak-1x, at a site that is on trend with the Beech discovery at Deep Water Tano Cape Three
Points (DWT/CTP), a block that lies south- west of WCTP Block 2. It will then move the Stena Forth to another section of its licence area to drill A na-1x, a well that will allow it to test the potential of the Cenomanian layers, which have been shown to contain oil at a eld to the east of WCTP Block 2.
e company described the block as highly prospective and said it would continue to eval- uate other potential drilling sites. It did not divulge the nancial terms of its deal with Stena Drilling, but O shore Energy Today cited an estimate from Bassoe that put the dayrate for the two-month contract at $175,000.
Kevin Okyere, the CEO of Springfield Energy’s parent company, said the drilling pro- gramme at WCTP Block 2 was a rst for Ghana.

OrantoPetroleum
Week 35 03•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P9