Talks have kicked about the commercial development of the deepwater Aje field off Nigeria after a four appraisal well confirmed oil and gas potential and hit pay in a deeper exploration target.
Aje 4, drilled by the Transocean Pathfinder drillship operating in Nigeria’s OML 113 licence area in a water depth logged five separate payzones with a total gross pay of around 210 m (690 ft).
tested Upper Cretaceous oil and gas bearing reservoir in the primary target with a gross hydrocarbon column of 102 m (335 ft), drilling partner Providence Resources said today.
Also the well tested a deeper Albian which was mapped below the Aje 4 structure, and logs indicated a further 170 ft gross hydrocarbon column with downhole pressure and sampling indicating gas-condensate, and a deeper 60 ft hydrocarbon column which was also logged as hydrocarbon-bearing.
The well was operated by Nigeria’s Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company with Chevron Nigeria Deepwater H Limited acting as technical adviser to Yinka. “ Upbeat Tony O’Reilly Jnr, chief executive of Providence which has a 5% interest in the licence declared: “We are delighted to report these results as they confirm our long held view in relation to the commercial potential of the AJE field.”
He went on: “In addition, we are extremely pleased to be able to announce the results from the exploration objectives of the AJE-4 well, which was a target identified by the Technical Advisor. Discussions have already commenced within the partnership concerning the potential commercial development of the AJE field, as well as the future exploration potential of OML113.”