Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL), an Africa-focused oil and gas company, is looking to drill an appraisal well of testing the Noa-1 discovery in OPL 226, offshore Nigeria, during 2018.
COPL on Friday said it was, along with its partner Shoreline and investment bankers, still working on securing financing for the appraisal and development project at OPL 226.
The company is also currently in discussions with potential contractors and suppliers for the appraisal project.
Following drilling of the appraisal well, planned for 2018, the discovery would be brought into production through an early production scheme.
The company also has plans for drilling of up to three additional similar wells on the Noa structure which would precede a full field development.
Historically, only five wells have been drilled on OPL 226 by previous operators including Noa-1 drilled by Solgas in 2001, Oyoma-1 and Dubagbene-1 in 1972, Nduri-1 in 1973, and HJ South-1 in 1987.
The Noa-1 discovery well, drilled in 2001, encountered 7.0 m of gas net pay and 18.7 m of oil net pay. Three additional gas-bearing sands were also encountered by the Noa- 1 well.
COPL added that it was, along with its partner Shoreline and investment bankers, still working on securing financing for the appraisal and development project at OPL 226.
According to the company, it is expecting final approvals from the Nigerian Government to extend Phase 1 of the OPL 226 Production Sharing Contract (PSC) and to complete the asset transfer so that the company can register the shares in the corporate registry in Nigeria.
Arthur Millholland , president and CEO, said: “We look forward to drilling an appraisal well to the NOA-1 oil discovery and place it on production through an Early Production Scheme.
“In the meantime, our team continues to review additional prospects in an effort to identify other exciting opportunities that fit our selective criteria.”
“We envision building a mid-tier oil and gas company with the support of our partner Shoreline Energy, one of Nigeria`s largest conglomerates, our financing partners and our loyal shareholders. While we recognize that everything is taking much longer than we initially estimated, our […] persistence has not diminished one little bit.”
Offshore energy Today Staff