Chariot has reported a disappointing exploration well offshore Namibia, while an appraisal drilled by Kosmos on Ghana’s West Cape Three Points block has failed to produce commercially viable results.
The Chariot failure was on the Tapir South prospect on block 1811A in the Namibe Basin.
The well, 1811/5-1, was drilled to a total depth of 4,879m (16,008ft) by the Maersk Deliverer semi-submersible working in more than 2,100m of water.
Preliminary logging results indicate that, although excellent reservoirs were penetrated, no commercial hydrocarbons were found, and the well will be plugged and abandoned.
The well encountered 173m of net reservoir sand of Cretaceous age, including two zones in excess of 30m with average porosities of 24% and evidence of good permeabilities.
Carbonate intervals were also penetrated with porosities up to 18% over a net interval of 28m. These results exceeded pre-drill estimates but there appeared to be no evidence of a working petroleum system.
Detailed analyses will be conducted on the data collected during the drilling of Tapir South that will be used to calibrate the existing data set and a resource update of the remaining prospectivity in the block will be obtained once this evaluation has been completed.
Paul Welch, CEO at Chariot, said, “While the results of the Tapir South well are disappointing, this is the first well of a longer-term drilling campaign within a frontier region and only the second well ever to have been drilled in the Namibe Basin.
“Our understanding of this basin is rapidly improving and we expect this well to provide more information on the character and maturity of the potential source rocks when we carry out detailed analyses on the recovered samples.
“These analyses will provide invaluable information for improving the assessment of source risk on other prospects in close proximity whilst also furthering our knowledge of the region.”
He said that Chariot and its partners in the acreage are still on track to commence the drilling of the Kabeljou (2714/6-1) well in southern block 2714A on the Nimrod prospect during Q3 this year.
Chariot has a four to five wells campaign mapped out.
Way to the north, offshore Ghana and following three successful deepwater wells on the West Cape Three Points block including the major Teak-1 discovery well, Kosmos Energy’s Teak-4A appraisal well has failed to find significant hydrocarbons.
The company reported that the Teak-4A was drilled 6.1km north-west of the Teak-1 wellsite as a follow-up to its recent successful confirmation of a northern extension of the Teak reservoir with its Teak-3A appraisal, which encountered a 35m payzone in a good quality reservoir as shown in wireline logs, reservoir pressure tests, and fluid samples.
Teak-4A was drilled to a total depth of 2,850m (9,348ft) using the Atwood Hunter semi. The target was the stratigraphic extension of the Teak discovery. However, the well encountered only thin, non-commercial reservoirs, and is now being plugged and abandoned.
Kosmos and partners have begun integrating well results into the Teak Field model to determine further appraisal requirements prior to developing Teak.
Following the completion of operations at the Teak-4A well, the rig will set gauges at the Teak-2A well and perform a drillstem test at the Akasa oil discovery on the West Cape Three Points Block.