Offshore staff
OSLO/VANCOUVER — Equatorial Guinea’s government has awarded production sharing contracts for three offshore blocks.
Panoro Energy, already a partner in offshore Block G, has secured operatorship (pending ratification) with a 56% interest in the adjacent Block EG-01. Its partners will be Kosmos Energy (24%) and state-owned GEPetrol (20%).
EG-01 is in water depths ranging from 30-500 m and is covered by 3D seismic. Terms for the initial three years of the PSC include subsurface studies based on existing seismic to further define and evaluate the prospectivity.
The partners will then have the option to enter a further two-year period, with a commitment to drill one exploration well.
Past exploration on the block brought to light an inventory of prospects within tie-back distance of facilities at the offshore Ceiba Field and Okume complex. Three exploration wells drilled since 2003 encountered thin oil and gas pay or oil shows.
Main hydrocarbon plays are Eocene sands and Upper Cretaceous turbidites analogous to the plays in Block G, where over 1 Bbbl has so far been discovered. And there is potential for deeper Albian targets, similar to the nearby Block S prospect, which Panoro has agreed to farm into and which is due to be drilled in 2024.
Africa Oil has signed two PSCs for offshore blocks EG-18 and EG-31. Assuming ratification, the company would have 80% operated stakes in both, the remainder held by GEPetrol, which also has an option to boost its holding by an additional 15%.
Both blocks are covered by 3D seismic. The minimum work commitment during the initial exploration periods (no drilling required) totals $7 million.
Africa Oil has identified various gas-prone prospects, such as Alba, in EG-31 in water depths of less than 80 m and close to existing infrastructure (i.e., the onshore Punta Europa LNG Terminal). Any commercial finds could provide low-cost, low-risk gas development opportunities aimed at the international LNG markets, the company said.
In EG-18 it has identified a potentially large and prospective basin floor fan prospect of Cretaceous age. Africa Oil President and CEO Keith Hill described this as large turbidite fan reminiscent of the company’s giant deepwater oil discoveries to the south off Namibia and South Africa.
02.20.2023
