Total has made a 'very promising' light oil discovery in 2300m water depth as part of an intensive exploration campaign off Ivory Coast.
The Saphir-1XB exploration well, the first exploration well on Block CI-514, is the first discovery in the San Pedro basin.
Saphir-1XB was drilled using a semisubmersible to a 4655m total depth and encountered about 40m net pay containing light 34° API oil, across a series of think sands over about 350m.
Total said it plans to drill another two wells, in Blocks CI- and CI-516, offshore Ivory Coast, by the end of the year.
“Drilled in an abrupt margin play, this first well is the first discovery in the San Pedro Basin, a frontier exploration area in Ivory Coast,” commented Marc Blaizot, Senior Vice President, Exploration at Total. "Having confirmed the presence of a petroleum system containing light oil, we will next evaluate this very promising find and focus on its extension to the north and east."
Vice President of Exploration for Canadian Natural’s International division, David Bell, said “Saphir-1XB is an important discovery in a frontier part of deepwater offshore Cote d’Ivoire and has demonstrated a working petroleum system.”
Total E&P Côte d’Ivoire operates Block CI-514 with a 54% interest, alongside CNR International (36%) and PETROCI Holding (10%).
Total also has interests in three other ultra-deep offshore exploration licenses in Ivory Coast (CI-100, close to the border with Ghana, and Tullow’s Jubilee field, CI-515 and CI-516).
Total continues to analyze the oil discovery made in Total-operated Block CI-100 in 2013, which confirmed the extension of an already proved active petroleum system in the prolific Tano Basin.
Earlier this month, LUKOIL Overseas (operator of Russia’s Lukoil Group’s overseas upstream projects) completed drilling its first offshore exploration well, Capitaine East-1x, in Block CI-101, offshore Ivory Coast. Read more: Lukoil completes Ivory Coast well
In February, Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) announced two new MultiClient GeoStreamer surveys offshore Ivory Coast. It had already started, with local partner Laguna and in cooperation with Petroci, a 2300sq km MultiClient 3D GeoStreamer acquisition over blocks CI-506 and CI-507, a frontier area within the larger Atlantic Equatorial Transform Margin.
PGS/Laguna had already completed the acquisition of 1500sq km of MultiClient 3D GeoStreamer data over blocks CI-12 and CI-501.
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