Drilling Operations Commence on Bamboo-1 Well Offshore Cameroon

Sterling Energy Plc, the AIM listed oil & gas exploration and production company provides update for the Ntem Concession, offshore Cameroon.

The operator, Murphy Cameroon Ntem Oil Co. Ltd (“Murphy”), has confirmed that drilling operations have commenced on the Bamboo-1 well using the Ocean Confidence, a fifth generation semi-submersible drilling rig.

The well, located approximately 56 kilometres from the coast of Cameroon, has an estimated target depth of 4200 metres true vertical depth sub-sea (TVDSS) and will be drilled in a water depth of approximately 1600 metres. Drilling operations are anticipated to take approximately 60-70 days.

Sterling Cameroon Limited (“Sterling”) has a 50% non-operated working interest in the Ntem Concession. Murphy will pay Sterling’s share of the costs for the drilling of the Bamboo-1 well.

The Bamboo prospect is a basin floor fan target within the highly prospective Upper Cretaceous play. A series of stacked fan targets have been identified and will be intersected by the Bamboo-1 well with the primary objective estimated to have a mean un-risked, gross prospective resource of 422 million barrels of oil and 170 billion cubic feet of gas, a total of some 450 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Sterling Energy Plc.’s Executive Chairman, Alastair Beardsall, said:

“We are very pleased that we have commenced the drilling of an exploration well on the highly prospective Ntem Concession.”

Press Release, February 10, 2014; Image: Diamond Offshore