SOCO International announced the Lidongo X Marine-101 (LXM-101) exploration well spud in the Marine XI Block, located in the Congo Basin, offshore the Republic of Congo.
The LXM-101 well is located 23km north west of Pointe Noire in a water depth of approximately 45m and is designed to test the extension of an adjacent gas/condensate/oil field into the Marine-XI license block.
The planned total depth for the well is provisionally estimated to be 2600m total vertical depth subsea (TVDss), although provision has been made to continue drilling to a maximum depth of circa 3100m TVDss, terminating in the lower most part of the Djeno sandstone formation.
The well will be drilled using the jackup drilling rig Noble Percy Johns, and is expected to take 35 to 45 days to drill.
Soco is the operator of the Marine XI block with a 40.39% interest with partners Raffia Oil (26.11%), SNPC (15%), AOGC (10%) and PetroVietnam (8.5%).
Image of Noble Percy Johns (from Noble)