EXXONMOBIL has struck oil with its Avestruz-1 well in Block EG-06 in Equatorial Guinea, the country’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea has announced. The well was drilled in October 2017. The operator is now assessing potential commerciality.
Avestruz-1 is located about 160 kilometres offshore Malabo in an exploration area adjacent to ExxonMobil’s Zafiro field, a prolific legacy oilfield in Equatorial Guinea’s northern maritime area. The company signed its production sharing contract for Block EG-06 in 2015, followed by its entry into nearby Block EG-11 in 2017.
‘Equatorial Guinea’s partnership with ExxonMobil continues to yield new oil discoveries, testifying to the huge potential in this country and our enabling environment for oil and gas exploration,’ said Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima. ‘We hope that commerciality will be established at Avestruz-1 and look forward to seeing more developments in the areas surrounding Block B.’
Equatorial Guinea has partnered with ExxonMobil in Block EG-06 through a 20-percent stake held by national oil company GEPetrol. An ExxonMobil local subsidiary is the operator with 80 percent. At the Zafiro field in Block B, ExxonMobil’s affiliate has a 71.25 percent interest, GEPetrol has 23.75 percent and the state has 5 percent. Since 1996 Zafiro has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil.
In a separate development, ExxonMobil announced early December that its wholly-owned affiliate, ExxonMobil E&P Mauritania Deepwater, has signed Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with the government of Mauritania for three deep-water offshore blocks. The company acquired exploration acreage in Blocks C22, C17 and C14, which encompass almost 8.4 million acres in water depths ranging from 3,300ft to 11,500ft. The three blocks are located at an average of 124 miles offshore Mauritania. ExxonMobil will begin exploration activities, including the acquisition of seismic data and analysis. The company will carry out the work programme as an operator with 90 percent interest, while Societe Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier holds a 10 percent interest