Lukoil Spuds Savannah Well in Sierra Leone

Russia’s largest privately held oil company Lukoil has kicked off drilling operations on the SL-5-11 block in the deepwater area offshore Sierra Leone.

The well is being drilled with the Eirik Raude semi-submersible drilling rig which started with spudding a deepwater well in the Savannah prospect. The target depth of the wildcat to be drilled within, will exceed 4,700 meters. The water depth at the drilling location is more than 2,000 meters.

Eirik Raude is the largest 5th generation self-propelled offshore drilling rig in the world. The rig has a height of 122 m, width of 85 m, deadweight of 52,500 tons and transit speed of 7 knots, crew – 120 people.

LUKOIL Overseas, operator of LUKOIL’s international upstream projects, has entered into the PSA for exploration and development of block SL-5-11 in June 2011 as an operator with a 49% share. The other project partners are Oranto (30%) and PanAtlantic (21%).

Block SL-5-11 covers an area of 4,022 square kilometers on the shelf and continental slope of the Atlantic Ocean with water depth ranging from 100 to 3,300 meters. 2D and 3D seismic data was acquired on 1,500 square kilometers leading to the identification of several prospects. From the geological point of view, the block belongs to the Sierra Leone-Liberia basin where a number of sizable oil discoveries have recently been made.

The current exploration period will expire on December 31, 2013. Obligations of the next exploration period will depend on the drilling results.

[mappress]
September 16, 2013