Hyperdynamics and its partner South Atlantic Petroleum will be given two years for appraisal work in the event of an oil discovery in the Fatala-1 well, offshore Guinea.
Hyperdynamics said that the letter granting the assurance for the two-year appraisal period was signed by the Director of ONAP (Guinean equivalent of the Ministry of Oil) Diakaria Koulibaly in response to the official request sent by SCS Corporation Ltd., for the two-year appraisal period.
The drilling at the Fatala-1 well is to be spudded in the first few days of August, using the Pacific Drilling drillship Pacific Scirocco.
“We are very pleased with the level of preparation for the drilling of Fatala-1 and with the performance of the contractors. All the elements are coming together nicely for the imminent spudding of the Fatala-1 well,” said Ray Leonard, Hyperdynamics’ President and Chief Executive Officer.
“Should the Fatala-1 well result in an oil discovery we will be ready to move to the Bamboo prospect and other targets during the appraisal period,” Leonard said.
Hyperdynamics is the operator of its 5,000-square-kilometer concession offshore Guinea.
According to a recent company presentation Hyperdynamics, which is looking to raise funds to support the full drilling operation, thinks Fatala holds 650 million barrels of recoverable oil, and this is the base case.
In a presentation on July 6, Ray Leonard said: “The initial well that wouldn’t go all the way down to the oil/water contact would prove up 310 million, which would make it a commercial well. And as I said before, additional appraisal wells could move you well beyond that 650-million-barrel resource estimate.”
Asked whether the company would immediately drill an appraisal well in the case of oil discovery, Leonard said:
“No, the next well will be an exploration well. We’ll need time to incorporate the results of this discovery to plan on an appraisal process. And also, we’ll want to be able to look at the total potential of the block as quickly as possible. And it really is premature to estimate how much that appraisal well will cost.
“A lot of things go into costing an appraisal well. And we just don’t have those attributes to be able to make that appraisal yet.”
*Offshore Energy Today
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