Vanco looks to West Africa's deepwater for the next big field

March 12, 2003
Vanco Energy will drill five wells this year offshore West Africa. Vanco President, Gene Van Dyke, told participants at the Offshore West Africa conference in Windhoek, Namibia, that Vanco is ready to drill off Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, and Namibia in 2003.

Vanco Energy will drill five wells this year offshore West Africa. Vanco President, Gene Van Dyke, told participants at the Offshore West Africa conference in Windhoek, Namibia, that Vanco is ready to drill off Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, and Namibia in 2003.

Vanco has invested heavily in West Africa's offshore, spending over $31 million to date in 2D and 3D seismic surveys. The discovery ratio with 3D seismic is greater than 50%, Van Dyke said.

According to van Dyke, the money spent offshore West Africa has been well invested. "West Africa is 50% closer to US markets than the Middle East," Van Dyke said. "The US is going to look more and more to West Africa for oil and gas."

Van Dyke is particularly interested in the Kunene carbonate basin off Namibia. The 10-mi-long and seven-mi-wide basin could hold as much as 6 tcf of gas and 700-800 MMbbl of oil, Van Dyke said. Another promising block lies off Equatorial Guinea. According to Van Dyke, the 3D seismic shows a number of targets, with recoverable reserves of 8 Bbbl.

"This area has fantastic potential to be very, very big," Van Dyke said.

03/12/03