Oil company Ophir Energy is planning to spud an exploration well off Ivory Coast in May with the Seadrill-owned drillship West Saturn.
Ophir entered the country in 2016 by signing a production sharing contract with African Petroleum for Block CI-513 . The agreement entailed drilling an exploration well within two years of the signing of the PSC.
The company informed in its final results 2016 statement on Thursday that the Ayame-1X exploration well off Ivory Coast matured to drill-ready and will spud in 2Q 2017, targeting 234 MMbo of gross mean prospective resource.
Ophir CEO, Nick Cooper , said the preparations for the company’s first deepwater operated well in almost three years started in 2016 to be ready for an expected spud in May 2017.
Cooper added the well will be drilled with the West Saturn drillship and the gross cost is expected to be $30 million. The company is currently carrying mean prospective recoverable resource of 234 MMbo with a 23% geological chance of success.
The drillship is under contract with Ophir from May until June 2017 with a dayrate of $155,000.
Ophir is the operator of the block with 45% interest. African Petroleum also has 45% interest and Petroci, the National Oil Company of Côte d’Ivoire, has 10% carried interest.
The UK-based oil company also revealed on Thursday it expects to take the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Fortuna FLNG project in Equatorial Guinea by mid-2017.
Offshore Energy Today Staff