Erin Energy gearing up for 3D seismic after Ghana-Ivory Coast border ruling

Erin Energy’s offshore assets in Ghana have not been affected by the ruling brought on Saturday by an international tribunal with regard to the maritime boundary dispute between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

The Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg has determined a maritime boundary and has found that Ghana did not violate the sovereign rights of Ivory Coast by conducting oil and gas activities in the disputed area.

Also, the tribunal found that had Ghana suspended its activities by implementing its obligations in accordance with the Order of the Special Chamber of April 25, 2015, namely to ensure that no new drilling either by Ghana or under its control would take place in the disputed area.

“The maritime boundary delimited by the Special Chamber’s decision does not negatively impact any of the discovered fields on the Company’s Expanded Shallow Water Tano (ESWT) block,” Erin energy said.

It added: “The company is working with the Government of Ghana and its partners to progress operational activities and planning of the 3D marine seismic survey. The decision also has no negative impact or otherwise on the company’s interests in Ghana. The Company has 337,000 acres in Ghana, and has three discovered fields with 2C resources.”

Worth noting, Erin last year said it was conducting geological and reservoir studies with the existing 2-D and 3-D seismic datasets to evaluate the various possible development options and the exploration potential of the block, at the same time planning a new 3-D marine seismic data acquisition over the entire block is in the execution planning phase.

The company then said that the new seismic data would enable the high-grading of the exploration prospects as well as firm-up the drilling candidates. However, Erin said previously the actual field operations “await the resolution of the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire maritime border dispute arbitration in mid-2017.”

In a presentation last month, the company, at the time still awaiting resolution on boundary issues said it had identified four high-quality drilling prospects in the area. The 3D seismic acquisition is expected to start next year, after which the company will consider development decision, assess exploration potential and possibly carry out appraisal work at the fields.

The company’s long term plan for the area (2020 and beyond) is to develop the three fields and drill further exploration wells.

Offshore Energy Today Staff