Tullow Committed to Drilling Offshore Namibia
Tullow has reportedly committed to drilling an exploration well offshore Namibia by late March 2017.
According to Pancontinental Oil & Gas, Tullow has elected to continue as a partner in the Namibian licence PEL 37, and will drill a well, subject to identifying a drillable prospect.
Pancontinental claims that, so far, 4 large turbidite Prospects and 3 large Leads have been mapped in detail using 3D seismic. The prospects, the best estimate, have potential for combined prospective resources of more than 900 million barrels of oil recoverable.
Pancontinental does say further exploration appraisal and evaluation is required to determine the existence of a significant quantity of potentially moveable hydrocarbons.
When farming into the licence in 2013, it was agreed that Tullow was entitled under the farmin agreement to withdraw from Namibia PEL 37 and re-assign its interest to Pancontinental by giving written notice on or before April 7, 2016.
Since Tullow elected to stay part of the partnership, as operator, it will continue to work towards drilling that is required by March 27, 2017 under the farmout agreement between Pancontinental and Tullow, provided that a drillable prospect is identified from the 2D seismic or 3D seismic.
Barry Rushworth, CEO and Director of Pancontinental said: “Tullow’s decision to stay in PEL 37 for drilling is a huge stamp of approval for this project, particularly in the current industry climate. Tullow is a first-class Operator and we are delighted that Tullow has decided to stay in PEL 37 for drilling.
Offshore Namibia, virtually all of the acreage is taken up under exploration licences. With such a high level of industry interest it is widely thought that offshore Namibia will become a next major focus of African oil exploration. In PEL 37, Pancontinental has a strong 30% carried interest in a very large licence area in a prime geological setting, with a variety of Prospects already mapped on 3D seismic and more anticipated as exploration continues.”
PEL 37 covers three adjacent blocks over some 17,000 sq km in the blocks in the central Walvis Basin offshore Namibia. Tullow is the operator with a 65 percent stake. Paragon oil and gas holds the remaining 5 percent.
