AGC partners secure semi for Kora

Offshore staff

OSLO, Norway -- Ophir Energy has engaged the new deepwater semisubmersible Maersk Deliverer to drill the first exploration well on the AGC Profond PSC off northwest Africa.

The license covers the 9,838-sq km (3,798-sq mi) deepwater area jointly administered by Senegal and Guinea Bissau.

Norwegian company Rocksource, which farmed into the PSC in September 2008, says the area contains multiple play intervals. Seventeen prospects have been mapped within its limits; three associated with strong controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) anomalies.

Maersk Deliverer should arrive during 1Q 2011 to drill a well targeting the Kora prospect, in a water depth of around 2,600 m (8,530 ft).

Rocksource assesses Kora as a 400 MMboe recoverable prospect, comprising a large four-way dip closure with Late Cretaceous reservoir potential. The structure has been de-risked following acquisition of CSEM data, and is associated with a strong resistive anomaly which Rocksource believes to be connected to the presence of hydrocarbons.

Maersk Deliverer is under construction by Keppel Fels in Singapore, and should be completed later this year. It will perform various operations in the Asia/Pacific region for other operators prior to drilling the AGC Profond well.

The contribution to the first well in the AGC Profond program constitutes the second stage in Rocksource’s farm-in agreement with Ophir, which will bring Rocksource 15% equity in the PSC.

To earn a maximum 25% equity, Rocksource will have to make a similar arrangement for a second exploration well.

07/19/2010