Oil - Kosmos stirkes more

Front page Feb 24, 2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine

KOSMOS Energy has struck new volumes of high quality crude oil in the deep waters of the Western Region of Ghana, company sources have confirmed.
The find was made in Odum-1, the latest well to be drilled by the company, barely six months after it had moved from the Mahogany-1 Well which gave the country its first ‘black gold’ in the last quarter of last year.
The news comes ahead of a crucial National Oil and Gas Forum today, called at the instance of President J.A. Kufuor to deliberate on a scheme to ensure the best for the country in terms of rules of exploratory rights, allocation of blocks and equitable distribution of oil revenues.
It also comes days after the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr James Musselman, had told a cross-section of the Ghanaian media that the company would begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields at West Cape Three Points, the area released to the company and its partners for oil exploration.
Songa Saturn, a second oil rig that made the discovery, was brought in by Kosmos in the middle of November last year to drill the Odum-1 well to pave the way for the commercial production of oil in Ghana.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is a deep-water floating drilling rig and it is expected to leave for Libya after its expedition in Ghanaian waters.
Company sources said the Odum-1 exploration well had confirmed another oil accumulation on the block based on the results of drilling, wireline logs and reservoir fluid sample.
It said the Odum-1 well, which tested a different prospect from the company’s Mahogany-1 well, had been suspended as a future development well.
“When operations on the Odum-1 well are completed, the Songa Saturn will drill a second appraisal well of the Jubilee Field as part of the company’s 2008 multi-well appraisal programme,” the company said.
It said the Odum-1 well encountered a gross oil column of 60 metres (197 feet) which consisted of high quality stacked reservoir sandstone and net oil-bearing pay of 22 metres (72 feet).
The company said samples recovered from the reservoir indicated an oil gravity. The Odum-1 well, which was drilled in water depths of 955 metres (3,151 feet), reached a total depth of 3,386 metres (11,109) and it is located 13 kilometres east of the Mahogany-1 well and the Jubilee field.
Mr Musselman, who is also President and Founder of the company, is quoted as saying that “the success of the Odum-1 well and its confirmation of a new significant oil province in Ghana’s western offshore basin is another event for the Republic of Ghana and Kosmos”.
“We are pleased that the second exploration well in our Ghana drilling programme is another success. We look forward to continuing our work with the government and people of Ghana, as well as our block partners, to help develop and produce Ghana’s vital natural resources,” he added.
Kosmos — which is noted for its quick exploration record — was adjudged the "Explorer of the Year 2007" by the World Junior Oil & Gas Congress late last year after it had been recognised for the company's discovery of the Mahogany Field in Ghana's deep waters, possibly one of the largest oil finds offshore West Africa in the last decade, is a block operator and holds a 30.875 per cent interest in the West Cape Three Points block.
The World Junior Oil & Gas Congress awards celebrate the leaders, innovators and pioneers in the junior oil and gas industry around the globe and their most outstanding achievements.
Anadarko WCTP Company, an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, has a 30.875 per cent interest while Tullow Ghana Limited, an affiliate of Tullow Oil plc, has a 22.896 per cent interest.
The E.O. Group Limited has a 3.5 per cent interest while that of Sabre Oil and Gas Limited has a 1.854 interest in the block. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC), 10 per cent participating interest in the project, will be carried through the exploration and development phases.