Noble Energy Announces Farm-In Agreement Expanding West Africa Exploration Portfolio

abarrelfull wrote on 09 Jun 2011 06:46
Tags: africa guinea-bissau noble offshore senegal upstream

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Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NBL) announced today that it has joined a venture that is exploring the AGC Profond block located offshore Senegal and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. The AGC Profond block, covering more than two million gross acres in water depths up to 11,500 feet, is in a designated cooperation area between the two countries. The venture has identified a number of prospects and leads on the acreage. Approximately 45 percent of the block is covered by existing 3D seismic.

The first target to be drilled is the Kora prospect in the northern part of the block, nearly 65 miles offshore in approximately 8,600 feet of water. The Kora prospect has a Cretaceous oil target with gross resources estimated at 450 million barrels of oil equivalent. The chance of success at the prospect is estimated by Noble Energy to be 20 percent. Total well depth is planned to be approximately 15,200 feet. Drilling is anticipated to begin in late June 2011 utilizing the Maersk Deliverer rig, with results expected by the end of August 2011.

David L. Stover, Noble Energy's President and COO, commented, "We are pleased to be adding this new exploration area to the portfolio. Offshore West Africa is a region where the industry has had numerous recent exploration successes, including our own offshore Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. The AGC Profond block is an area that has not previously been explored and we believe it has significant oil potential. Our new ventures team did a great job of capturing this opportunity for Noble Energy, expanding our already large exploration inventory."

Ophir AGC Profond Ld. ("Ophir") will operate the Kora-1 exploration well and, in the event of a discovery, Noble Energy will become the operator for appraisal and development activities. Noble Energy has a 30 percent working interest. Other interest owners are Ophir with 36.7 percent, Rocksource AGC Profond AS with 12.5 percent, and FAR Ltd. with 8.8 percent. The remaining interest is held by L'Entreprise, the AGC state-owned entity, with 12 percent.

A map of the AGC Profond block will be available on Noble Energy's website.

Noble Energy is a leading independent energy company engaged in worldwide oil and gas exploration and production. The Company has core operations onshore in the U.S., primarily in the DJ Basin, in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, offshore Eastern Mediterranean, and offshore West Africa. Noble Energy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is traded under the ticker symbol NBL. Further information is available at www.nobleenergyinc.com.

• Noble Energy Announces Farm-In Agreement Expanding West Africa Exploration Portfolio

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