Repsol Exploration (Namibia) has started drilling operations on the deepwater Welwitschia-1 prospect in Walvis Bay, offshore Namibia, this week, according to partner Tower Resources, via its Neptune Petroleum (Namibia) subsidiary. The well was spudded on April 24.
The Welwitschia-1 prospect is targeting net risked recoverable resources of 496MMboe to Tower's 30% interest, putting the total estimate at about 1.6billion boe. The well will intersect up to five separate reservoir targets ranging from the Palaeocene-Maastrichtian to the Albian Carbonate sequence at a potential total depth (TD) of 3000m (true vertical depth subsea). The operator expects this to take up to 46 days.
Operations in Namibia petroleum exploration license (PEL 0010), operated by Repsol, and containing Welwitschia, are using the Rowan Renaissance drillship (pictured). It will be the Rowan Renaissance’s first drilling program, after its delivery from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Korea.
Tower said mobilization was “a little later than expected owing to prolonged acceptance-testing by Repsol in advance of it taking the drillship on a three-year contract.”
The Rowan Renaissance is the first of three Rowan’s drillships under construction at HHI. The GustoMSC P10,000 design drillships will be capable of drilling wells to depths of 40,000 feet in waters of up to 12,000 feet. The effective day rate ranges from $614,000-$624,000, depending on work location. The Rowan Renaissance is expected to spend its first year in West Africa, before moving to the Gulf of Mexico for the remainder of its term with Repsol.
Repsol has 44% interest in PEL0010, with Neptune holding 30% and Arcadia Expro (Namibia) holding the remaining 26%.
Namibia
Over the past 18 months four key wells have been drilled in deep-water offshore Namibia, say Spectrum's Neil Hodgson and Anongporn Intawong.
These wells include the Kabeljou (Petrobras-operated) and Moosehead (HRT-operated) wells drilled in the Orange River Basin and the
Murombe and Wingat wells (HRT-operated) drilled in the South Walvis Basin. None made commercial discoveries, but have provided information re-risking future wells, say Hodgson and Intawong.
Previous exploration in the three Namibian offshore basins comprised only 16 wells, of which seven were appraisal wells in the Kudu Gas field, and all were drilled on the shelf in less than 500m water depth.
Rowan Renaissance facts:
Subscribe
