Lukoil could resume drilling in West Africa within 6 mths to a year
MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - Russian oil company OJSC Lukoil could resume drilling in West Africa within six months to a year, Lukoil Vice President Leonid Fedun told journalists.
Right now the company needs to assess issues related to profitability, he said. "We will need to drill more, but a new interpretation is needed. Nobody has yet drilled at such geological structures as the company possesses in West Africa," Fedun said.
He added that "this is a totally different geology, in no way similar to what we've encountered before."
"I can say with high probability that Independence will be commercial," he said.
Lukoil has drilled four wells in West Africa to date. "We will sit and research for another half year to a year. We have gathered an array of information on the four wells. Now we need to examine the seismic 3D and reinterpret it. We need to construct a totally different geological model. The next drilling in West Africa won't be soon - within half a year to a year, no earlier," Fedun said.
Lukoil made a discovery while drilling the Independence well at the end of last year. The company was simultaneously drilling at the Albacore well, although it did not announce the results. Fedun said that there are hydrocarbons at Albacore, but that they are "insignificant."
In 2006-2007, Lukoil acquired stakes in three offshore projects on the Ghana and Cote D'Ivoire shelf. All the sections are located in the deepwater part of the Gulf of Guinea and geologically are part of the Tano oil and gas basin, where several major deposits were discovered. In July 2006, Lukoil joined a project to explore, evaluate, develop and produce hydrocarbons at the deepwater block CTPDW.
In June 2009, a new base agreement for the project was signed. The block is situated 50-100 kilometers off the coast, and the nearest port is Takoradi. The block covers 5,142 square kilometers. Water depth runs from 200 to 3,000 meters. The agreement stipulates that the opening of the contracted area is to be done in two stages - geological prospecting and development and production. The former period is five years and the latter 23 years, with the possibility of an extension. Ghana National Petroleum Corporation has the option of increasing its stake in the project by 5%, starting from the date of commercial opening.
Lukoil views Africa as a promising region for producing oil, but has yet to discover commercial reserves of hydrocarbons.