TOTAL’s second discovery in deepwater Cote D’Ivoire has thicker net pay of oil, but the sands are spread over a longer reservoir footage.
The wildcat Saphir-1XB well on Block CI-514, encountered 40 meters of net pay containing light 34° API oil, in a series of 350 meters of reservoirs. This is “more oil” than the 28 metres net pay encountered in Ivoire-1X , in Block CI-100, in 2013, but the latter is in 100metres of reservoirs.
TOTAL hasn’t provided any footage for any single reservoir in the two wells. And there’s a lot more to do in determining if these are significant, hub class discoveries.
The company says that both wells were drilled in “abrupt margin plays”. The first discovery, Ivoire-1X , confirmed the extension of an already proved active petroleum system in the prolific Tano Basin, offshore Ghana. This second one is “the first discovery in the San Pedro Basin, a frontier exploration area in Ivory Coast,” TOTAL said in a release. “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.“
Saphir-1XB lies in 2,300 meters of water, and is the first well in Block CI-514. It was drilled to a total depth of 4,655 meters. TOTAL says that the data acquired during drilling are being analyzed and will be used to determine the area’s potential and design the delineation programme. “TOTAL is pursuing its intensive exploration programme 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, alongside CNR International (36%) and PETROCI Holding (10%). Total also has interests in two other ultra-deep offshore exploration licenses ( CI-515, CI-516) in Cote d’Ivoire.
