Oil company Kosmos Energy has completed drilling the Hippocampe-1 exploration well located in Block C-8 offshore Mauritania but failed to find oil or gas.
The well was drilled in approximately 2,600 meters of water with the Ensco DS 12 drillship, formerly known as Atwood Achiever.
Designed to test Lower Cenomanian and Albian reservoirs charged from the deeper Valanginian – Neocomian source, the Hippocampe–1 well was drilled to a total depth of 5,500 meters. Well-developed reservoirs were encountered in both exploration targets but these proved to be water bearing, Kosmos informed on Monday. The well will now be plugged and abandoned.
It is believed that this prospect failed due to a lack of charge access in this part of the play fairway, Kosmos said.
Andrew G. Inglis , chairman and chief executive officer, said: “Following on from our Yaakar discovery earlier this year, Hippocampe-1 is the second of four tests of independent prospects located in the outboard basin floor fan fairways in our Mauritania and Senegal acreage. Although the well did not encounter oil or gas, it has, together with Yaakar , confirmed the presence of quality cretaceous reservoir in the outboard basin floor fans, which contain multiple leads and prospects, more than 200 kilometers from the north to south through our blocks. We are still in the early stages of opening this newly emerging basin and our forward drilling program remains unchanged given the independent nature of the prospect tests, in particular with regard to charge.”
According to the company, the Ensco DS 12 drillship will now proceed as planned to Block C-12 offshore Mauritania to test the independent Lamantin oil prospect. The Lamantin prospect is located approximately 80 kilometers offshore and 180 kilometers northeast of Hippocampe in 2,185 meters of water. The prospect comprises Campanian age reservoirs charged from the shallow, immediately underlying, oil prone, oil mature Albian and Cenomanian–Turonian source rocks. The Lamantin well will be followed by the Requin Tigre in Senegal.
Kosmos holds rights in the C-6, C-8, C-12, C-13, and C-18 contract areas under production sharing contracts with the Government of Mauritania’s Société Mauritanienne Des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (SMHPM). The blocks range in water depth between 100 and 3,000 meters, and have combined acreage of over 40,000 square kilometers gross. Kosmos is the exploration operator of Block C-8 with 28 percent equity and is joined by its partners BP (62 percent) and SMHPM (10 percent).