Liberia: Wildcat spuds west of Venus, Mercury finds

Aug. 12, 2011
African Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Perth, has spud a wildcat on the Apalis prospect on Block LB-09 off Liberia, where the company is funded for five more exploratory wells.

African Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Perth, has spud a wildcat on the Apalis prospect on Block LB-09 off Liberia, where the company is funded for five more exploratory wells.

The Maersk Deliverer semisubmersible is drilling the well on a prospect that may contain multiple sand reservoirs in the Upper Cretaceous Maastrichtian and Turonian and in the Aptian and Albian, said African Petroleum, which has 100% interest in LB-08 and LB-09. Some of the potential reservoirs have a well-developed 3D seismic class 3/4 AVO response similar to those reported for nearby discoveries in Sierra Leone and Ghana.

After drilling Apalis, the rig will be released to Lukoil Overseas Cote d’Ivoire E&P Ltd., Vanco Cote d’Ivoire Ltd., and AP Moller-Maersk to drill two wells before returning to African Petroleum for one more well. The swap of drilling slots with Lukoil and Vanco raises the flexibility of African Petroleum’s two to three-well 2012 drilling program by allowing the rig to be reserved for the deepest-water targets.

While the rig is working for the other operators, African Petroleum will integrate the Apalis geological and operational information for better planning of the 2012 wells. African Petroleum plans to contract a second deepwater rig in 2012 to accelerate drilling plans in the West African Transform Margin.

Block SL-03 off Sierra Leone is immediately west of the Anadarko Venus and Mercury discoveries. The Geo-Caribbean 3D seismic vessel is shooting 2,500 sq km of 3D seismic on SL-03. Further 3D seismic is planned for 2011-12 in West Africa.