Panoro Energy ASA commenced a 3D seismic acquisition program in the Dussafu block off Gabon. The work will be carried out by Polarcus and is planned to cover an area of approximately 1260 km2 in the outboard part of the Dussafu license.
The primary objective is to upgrade leads that have previously been identified on 2D seismic data to be drillable prospects. These leads, which are expected to contain pre-salt Gamba and Dentale sandstones, have recently become more attractive following the identification of the high quality oil bearing Dentale reservoirs in the Tortue discovery. The 3D data set is expected to provide a better understanding of the size and risking of the prospects prior to any future exploration drilling decision in this area.
The survey will also cover the recent discoveries of Ruche (2011) and Tortue (2013), re-shooting a portion of the existing 3D seismic originally acquired in 1994. Whilst a 335 km2 subset of the 1994 3D seismic survey is currently being reprocessed over the discoveries to better define the discovered volumes, the new 3D survey is expected to provide data of significantly higher quality. The new seismic data should allow for better placement of future development wells once a field development decision is taken for the Ruche and Tortue discoveries.
The new 3D seismic acquisition program is expected to be completed by mid-November 2013, with the first high quality seismic products available during Q2 2014. The fully processed seismic data is expected to be available for interpretation and mapping by 2H 2014.
Dussafu Marin is operated by Harvest Dussafu, B.V., an affiliate of Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. On September 30, 2013 Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, HNR Global Holding BV has entered into exclusive negotiations with Vitol S.A, to sell the Company's 66.7% interest in the Dussafu Marine Permit PSC, offshore Gabon for US$137 million in cash (net proceeds estimated to be approximately $123 million ). Panoro Energy holds a 33.33% stake in the Dussafu Marin permit, held through a subsidiary company.