The result of the Tonel North-1 appraisal well, offshore Equatorial Guinea, “is expected to marginally reduce the discovered volumes in the Tonel field” according to Ophir Energy. The well was drilled approximately 5km north-east of the original Tonel-1 discovery well in Block R. Tonel North-1 encountered gas pay combined in the lower target sands “but the upper sands appear to be low gas-saturation”, the London listed operator says, adding that analysis of the well data was ongoing. “The result but will not impact the commerciality of the base case 2.5 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA) Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.
The Vantage Titanium Explorer drillship has now moved to complete the Silenus East-1 exploration well, also in Block R, “which is targeting ~420Billion cubic feet (Bcf) of low-risk mean prospective gas resource as a primary target and will be deepened to test a secondary, high-impact but high-risk oil target that on current mapping could be a potentially extensive play across the Block”. The top hole of Silenus has already been previously drilled and the well is expected to complete within two weeks. “There are several analogous shallow gas prospects to Silenus East in the Thrust Belt play sharing the same Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators. If successful, the well would de-risk ~1.2 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of upside (including Silenus East volumes) in the immediate area that could provide an additional production hub for the FLNG development”, Ophir states.
