BW Offshore to drill additional well offshore Gabon

FPSO specialist turned oil company BW Offshore will drill an additional appraisal well to test one of several prospects mapped in the Ruche area within the Dussafu license offshore Gabon.

BW Offshore said on Wednesday that the drilling campaign on the Ruche North-East prospect was planned to begin in mid-2018.

The drilling will begin following the completion of the two production wells and the appraisal well at the Tortue field.

The objective of the appraisal well is to identify additional resources in the greater Ruche area which will be aggregated with the existing Ruche discoveries and form the basis for future development phases.

Carl K. Arnet, the CEO of BW Offshore, said: “The planned well offers an attractive risk-reward profile. The Borr Norve drilling rig is already nearby and available, allowing us to spread mobilization costs across additional wells.

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“Data from the 2016 site survey at the Ruche North-East location points to a good probability of success. The location adjacent to an existing discovery to facilitate a development is another important reason to drill the well.”

In a separate announcement, BW’s partner in the Dussafu Marin Production Sharing Contract, Panoro Energy said that the estimated cost of the well was projected to be less than $20 million.

The prospect is located approximately three kilometers from the existing Ruche discovery wells and is mapped as a four-way structure in the Gamba reservoir, with potential in the deeper Dentale formation. The size of the Ruche North East structure, and the targeted resource volumes, are comparable to the Ruche field.

According to Panoro, the objective of the well is to prove up additional resources in the greater Ruche area, to be aggregated with the existing Ruche field (discovered by Panoro in 2011) to form the basis of future development phases.

John Hamilton, Panoro CEO, said: “While Panoro, along with its operating partner BW Energy, remains fully focussed on Phases 1 and 2 of the Tortue development, we are excited with the decision to drill this new well in order to continue unlocking the considerable exploration potential at Dussafu. Ruche North-East represents a low cost and attractive risk-reward drilling opportunity to develop Ruche as a second production hub at Dussafu.”