Lukoil starts drilling offshore Sierra Leone
MOSCOW. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Russian oil major Lukoil has started drilling off the coast of Sierra Leone in August, the company said.
The company is drilling at block SL-5-11. The well's projected depth is more than 4,700 meters.
Reports have said the company would start drilling in August.
Lukoil Overseas, Lukoil's international upstream project operator, joined the project for the development of deepwater block SL-5-11 in Sierra Leonean waters in July 2011. The company's share is 49%, Oranto (Nigeria) has 30%, and PanAtlantic has 21%.
This 4,022 sq km block is located on the continental shelf downslope in the Atlantic Ocean in waters from 100 to 3,300 meters deep. 2D and 3D seismic surveying has been done at the block over an area of 1,500 sq km, turning up several promising structures. The block is in the Sierra Leone-Nigeria geological basin, where several oil and gas discoveries have been made in recent years.
A typical standard contract for prospecting and development at the block good for thirty years was been signed. The mandatory program of geological survey work involves the reinterpretation of earlier obtained data from seismic and electrical surveying and the drilling of an exploratory well.