Total E&P announced today that its Saphir-1XB exploration well on Block CI-514 tested light oil in deep water off Africa's Ivory Coast.
“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."
Drilled in 2300m water depth to a total depth of 4655m, Saphir-1XB is the first well in Block CI-514. It intersected about 40m of net pay containing light, 34°API oil, in a reservoir interval 350m thick.
Total says the data acquired during drilling are being analyzed and will be used to determine the area’s potential and design the delineation program. The company is pursuing an intensive exploration program in the area, with plans to drill two wells in Blocks CI-515 and CI-516 by year-end.
Total E&P Côte d’Ivoire operates Block CI-514 with a 54% interest, with partners CNR International (36%) and PETROCI Holding (10%).
Total also has interests in three other ultra-deepwater offshore exploration licenses in Ivory Coast: CI-100, CI-515, and CI-516.
The Group is continuing 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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