Reconnaissance Energy Africa has found oil and gas indicators and shows over three intervals at its first well onshore Namibia.
The 6-2 well has led ReconAfrica’s board member Dan Jarvie to say “the components and processes for a working petroleum system are all present”. The well found more than 200 metres of indicators and shows.
Jarvie said shows indicated “migrated, thermogenic petroleum” had been found over three intervals in the Kavango Basin well. “Mud gas results indicate a high BTU gas with the presence of light oil in numerous cutting samples.”
ReconAfrica is now moving its drilling rig to the second site, the 6-1 location, which is 16 km from 6-2. The company said it would drill this next well to follow up petroleum systems found at the first well.
Significant development
Namibian Minister of Mines and Energy Thomas Alweendo said the well confirmed the “big potential for a very valuable energy resource for our country and therefore a significant development for Namibia onshore exploration efforts.
“The positive results of this well have provided us with the critical information required to unlock the country’s petroleum prospectivity and is the first step in the process of locating significant accumulations, we can now confidently confirm Namibia is endowed with an active onshore petroleum basin.”
ReconAfrica spudded the 6-2 well in January, saying it would drill to a depth of 3,810 metres. The company did not disclose the depth reached in its announcement today.
Core Laboratories, GeoMark Research and Netherland Sewell & Associates (NSAI) are all helping analyse the results from the well.
Exploration in Namibia has focused on the offshore. Galp drilled the offshore Wingat-1 well in 2013 finding oil, although not in commercial quantities.
The exploration result has driven up ReconAfrica’s share price. Before the news, the company was trading at around $2.8. Following the discovery announcement, it hit a high of $4.53 on April 15.
Updated April 16 with share price gains.