BP hits ‘major gas discovery’ in BirAllah area offshore Mauritania

Oil major BP has made ‘a major gas discovery’ with the Orca-1 exploration well, which is located in the BirAllah area in Block C8 offshore Mauritania.

Partners in the BirAllah gas hub, located offshore Mauritania, include SMHPM, BP as the operator, and Kosmos.

The results continue the 100 percent success rate from nine wells targeting the inboard gas trend in Mauritania/Senegal, Kosmos said in a statement on Monday.

Kosmos said that the Orca-1 well, which targeted a previously untested Albian play, had exceeded pre-drill expectations encountering 36 meters of net gas pay in excellent quality reservoirs.

In addition, the well extended the Cenomanian play fairway by confirming 11 meters of net gas pay in a down-structure position relative to the original Marsouin-1 discovery well, which was drilled on the crest of the anticline. The location of Orca-1, approximately 7.5 kilometers from the crest of the anticline, proved both the structural and stratigraphic trap of the Orca prospect, which Kosmos estimates has a mean gas initially in place (GIIP) of 13 TCF.

Discoveries can feed world-scale LNG project

In total, Kosmos said it believes that Orca-1 and Marsouin-1 have de-risked up to 50 TCF of GIIP from the Cenomanian and Albian plays in the BirAllah area, more than sufficient resource to support a world-scale LNG project. In addition, a deeper, untested Aptian play has also been identified within the area and surrounding structures.

The Orca-1 result demonstrates highly calibrated AVO, which together with our exploration track record provides further confidence in our ability to predict the presence of high-quality gas charged Cenomanian and Albian reservoirs within the 400-kilometer long inboard Mauritania/Senegal gas basin.

Commenting on the results of the Orca-1 well, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew G. Inglis said: “The Orca-1 well concludes a very strong year for exploration and appraisal in Mauritania and Senegal. Orca-1, which we believe is the largest deepwater hydrocarbon discovery in the world so far this year, further demonstrates the world-scale quality of the Mauritania gas basin. With sufficient resource in place at the BirAllah hub, Kosmos looks forward to working with the Government of Mauritania and its partners to bring benefits to the people of Mauritania through the development of cost competitive, low carbon intensity projects.”

Following positive drilling result from the Orca-1 well and due to the scale and materiality of the Orca-1 discovery, Kosmos is extending the timeline of its Mauritania/Senegal sell-down process into 2020, giving potential bidders additional time to analyze the new data.

Located approximately 125 kilometers offshore Mauritania, the Orca-1 well was drilled in approximately 2,510 meters of water to a total measured depth of around 5,266 meters.

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