Jubilee oil partner, Kosmos Energy says it will drill an additional well as part of its 2011 exploration campaign on West Cape Three Points Block.
A statement issued by the company said it has secured additional rig capacity on the “Transocean Marianas” semi-submersible rig to drill the Cedrela-1 well west of the Makore prospect near the block’s southern boundary. The Cedrela-1 well will target multiple objectives that the company previously has encountered on the block. Kosmos anticipates that the well will be spudded in third quarter of 2011.
The drilling of the Cedrela-1 well will bring Kosmos’ 2011 capital spending budget for Ghana to US$430 million, US$260 million of which will be spent on exploration and appraisal drilling. Last month, Kosmos announced its intention to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) before the end of this year to raise about US$50 million to fund development of its oil operations in the country.
Kosmos Chief Executive, Brian Maxted, said the decision to list was a demonstration of the company’s commitment to stay in Ghana as a development partner in the Jubilee field.
“Kosmos is here to stay for the long haul and as part of our long-term commitments to our operations in Ghana, we will be listing on the GSE before the end of this year to give Ghanaians the opportunity to buy a stake in the future,” added Maxted.
In Cameroon, the company recently drilled the N’gata-1 exploration well on the Kombe-N’sepe Block. The results of drilling, wireline logs and reservoir fluid samples show the N’gata-1 well penetrated 44 meters of reservoir with 10 meters of net gas-bearing pay, but unfortunately the reservoirs contained sub-commercial quantities of gas.
However, an additional deeper thick sand interval with gas shows was encountered, but complete wireline logs were unable to be obtained over this target due to operational difficulties. Kosmos has plugged and abandoned the well, which ended its initial drilling commitment for the block. The company said that while no commercial reserves were discovered the drilling program demonstrated viable reservoirs and a working hydrocarbon system.
Future technical evaluation will focus on identifying these play elements in areas of the block where liquid content and trap effectiveness may improve. Kosmos entered into a petroleum agreement with Morocco’s ONHYM in May for the Foum Assaka area offshore the country. The agreement will become effective upon publication of a ministerial order in accordance with Moroccan law.
The Foum Assaka area covers approximately 6,500 sq km in the Atlantic Ocean’s Agadir Basin about 43 km west of the port city of Agadir. Kosmos said that the exploration acreage contains play elements similar to those seen in its other West African acreage.
Kosmos will become the block operator and will have a 37.5 percent participating interest under the agreement. ONHYM will have a 25 percent interest that will be carried through the exploration phase, and Pathfinder Hydrocarbon Ventures Limited will hold the remaining 37.5 percent participating interest.
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