LUKOIL OVERSEAS, VANCO and the state oil company Petroci Holding have completed the drilling of the first exploration well in Block CI-401 on the Orca Prospect, located in the Gulf of Guinea, offshore the Republic of Cote dIvoire.
p>LUKOIL OVERSEAS, VANCO and the state oil company Petroci Holding have completed the drilling of the first exploration well in Block CI-401 on the Orca Prospect, located in the Gulf of Guinea, offshore the Republic of Cote dIvoire.
The Orca-1X-bis well penetrated the targeted objectives and discovered thin sandstone reservoirs. The well was drilled to a total depth of 4,015 m below sea level in a water depth 1,868 meters at a location 55 km south of the port of Bassam, using the Deepwater Pathfinder, a dynamically positioned 5th generation deepwater drillship. Oil samples were recovered from Campanian and Turonian sandstones during the course of drilling operations. The Orca-1X bis well has been plugged and temporarily abandoned.
The data obtained during drilling significantly expanded the available information on the petroleum potential of the western part of the Tano-Ivoirian Basin and confirmed the availability of an active petroleum system, which could warrant future exploration in this area.
More than 3,000 sq km of 3D seismic data have been acquired in Block CI-401 and CI-101, where the same consortium holds a production-sharing contract. Currently, the partners are defining a location for the first exploration well in Block CI-101, due to be drilled in 2011.
