Cobalt Announces Successful Pre-Salt Flow Test Offshore Angola

abarrelfull wrote on 10 Feb 2012 10:02
Tags: angola cobalt upstream

Latest News

• Want a weekly review of refining news?

• This Week in Refining
• RSS Feed

Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (―Cobalt‖) (NYSE:CIE) today provided additional data confirming the significance of its Cameia Pre-salt oil discovery in Block 21 offshore Angola.

The Cameia-1 Well was drilled in 5,518 feet (1,682 meters) of water to a total depth of 16,030 feet (4,886 meters), at which point an extensive wire line evaluation program was conducted. The results of this wire line evaluation program confirmed the presence of a 1,180 foot (360 meter) gross continuous oil column with over a 75% net to gross pay estimate. No gas/oil nor oil/water contact was evident on the wire line logs. An extended Drill Stem Test (DST) has now been performed on Cameia-1 to provide additional information.

The DST flowed at an un-stimulated sustained rate of 5,010 barrels per day of 44-degree API gravity oil and 14.3 million cubic feet per day of associated gas (approximately 7,400 BOEPD) with limited drawdown. The flow rate, which was restricted by surface equipment, facility and safety precautions, confirmed the presence of a very thick, continuous, high quality reservoir saturated with light oil.

Joseph H. Bryant, Cobalt’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said ―Cameia is an extraordinary success. The results have exceeded our pre-drill expectations and have increased our confidence in our entire West Africa Pre-salt exploration inventory. We will immediately commence our Cameia appraisal program.

James W. Farnsworth, Cobalt’s Chief Exploration Officer, added that ―This test confirmed the presence of a world-class quality carbonate reservoir at Cameia. The presence and quality of reservoir had been our key play and prospect risk prior to drilling. Based upon our analysis of the test data, if not limited by the test equipment on the rig, we believe the well would have the potential to produce in excess of 20,000 barrels of oil per day. In addition, we have yet to drill our deeper targets at Cameia, which if successful will provide additional upside potential.

Cobalt had previously announced that it would drill its Bicuar-1 exploratory well after completing Cameia-1 well operations. However, given the exceptional results obtained from the Cameia-1 exploratory well, Cobalt, its partners and the Concessionaire have agreed to immediately initiate an appraisal drilling program to further assess the size and extent of the Cameia oil discovery and to drill to deeper objectives. Plans are
underway to drill the Cameia-2 appraisal well with the Diamond Offshore Ocean Confidence drilling rig. The Cameia-2 appraisal well is expected to spud in February and will be drilled to a planned total depth of 16,000–18,000 feet. The Cameia-2 appraisal well is expected to take 100-120 days to drill, followed by an evaluation period based on the well’s results. Cobalt’s partners in Block 21 and Cameia-1 include Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção, S.A. (20%), Nazaki Oil and Gáz, S.A. (30%), and Alper Oil, Limitada (10%).

• Cobalt Announces Successful Pre-Salt Flow Test Offshore Angola

---