Savannah Petroleum has reported a fourth oil discovery in Niger following the drilling of the Eridal-1 exploration well in the Agadem Rift Basin (ARB).
Image: Savannah Petroleum reports another oil discovery in Niger. Photo: courtesy of Savannah Petroleum PLC.
The oil discovery for the British oil and gas company came in the R3 portion of the R3/R4 PSC Area located in the south eastern part of the African country.
According to Savannah Petroleum, the Eridal-1 well intersected a total estimated 13.6m of net oil bearing reservoir sandstones in the E1 reservoir unit within the primary Eocene Sokor Alternances objective.
The exploratory well was drilled using the GW 215 rig to a total measured depth of 2,542m where it encountered the primary objective targets at, or near, their prognosed depths.
The company further said that wireline logs indicate the reservoir properties to be good quality while the available data show that the light oil is in line with its discoveries to date. The light oil discovery is also in line with offset wells and the depth/API trend observed throughout the basin, said Savannah Petroleum.
It was in late July that the company announced the spudding of the Eridal-1 well to assess potential oil pay in the Eocene Sokor Alternances as the main target, with the secondary target of potential oil pay in the Eocene Upper Sokor being considered as upside.
Currently, the exploration well is being suspended for future re-entry purpose. The company expects to carry out production tests on at least two of its discovery wells as a precursor to its plans to implement its Niger Early Production Scheme (EPS).
Savannah Petroleum CEO Andrew Knott said: “What was different about Eridal-1 was that we were targeting a structure which had previously been drilled in a down-dip location by a previous operator.
“Our technical team had a strong view that significant potential existed up-dip and selected the Eridal-1 well accordingly. We believe this has contributed meaningful oil resource additions to support the development of our proposed EPS.”
With four exploration wells in the R3 East area yielding positive results, Savannah Petroleum has opted to exercise the second of six options it has as per contract with Great Wall Drilling Company Niger.
The company said that the GW 215 rig will be mobilized to the Zomo-1 well site on the R3 portion of the R3/R4 PSC Area, located 12km from Eridal-1. At this location, the rig will prepare to drill the Zomo-1 exploration well.