London-headquartered Bowleven, the Africa-focused oil and gas company, has reported the spud of the IM-6 appraisal well at the Etinde block, Cameroon, on what the company announced to start a drilling campaign early this month
Bowleven has a 25 per cent of interest in Etinde block, located in the Douala Basin, offshore Cameroon, while its partners New Age and Lukoil own 37.5 per cent each. Bowleven said that it will announce the final well results after the end of drilling and testing operations in Central African country’s oil and gas blocks.
The IM-6 well is the first of two appraisal wells to be drilled in 2018, said the oil and gas company.
The Etinde joint venture partners have contracted the Vantage jack-up rig “Topaz Driller” for this campaign. Drilling and logging operations of IM-6 are expected to take approximately 100 days in total with Schlumberger providing most of the drilling services.
“As previously announced, the well is designed to delineate the size and extent of the Intra-Isongo stratigraphic sand traps as a primary target, with the Upper Isongo sand as a secondary target,” said Bowleven while reporting to the press.
Addressing the oil drilling in the Central African nation, Eli Chahin, CEO of Bowleven, said, “This is a significant event for Bowleven, its shareholders, partners and stakeholders in Cameroon. I would like to thank New Age’s operations team and our drilling contractor, Vantage, for all their efforts in achieving this milestone.”
“The appraisal programme, for which Bowleven is fully carried, aims to further improve the already robust economics for future development of this world-class asset and we look forward to providing an update on IM-6 results over the coming weeks,” Chahin added.
Bowleven has a significant presence in Central Africa’s oil and gas fields. In 2017, the company signed a farm-out agreement with Victoria Oil & Gas (VOG) for a production sharing contract (PSC) for the Bomono Block, which is located in the onshore extension of the Douala Basin and is characterised by numerous surface oil seeps as well as a strong gas presence.
