Anadarko eyes Sierra Leone, Mozambique wells

Anadarko Petroleum Corp., fresh from its Samurai Miocene oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, is moving a drill ship to explore off Sierra Leone and Mozambique later this year.

June 25, 2009

2 min read

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 25 -- Anadarko Petroleum Corp., fresh from its Samurai Miocene oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, is moving a drill ship to explore off Sierra Leone and Mozambique later this year.

The company said it now expects to have discovered 350 million boe of net resources in 2009, 50% more than its expectation in March. Partners in the well are Anadarko, Murphy Oil Corp., and Samson Offshore Co., each with 33.3% working interest.

Samurai, drilled to a total depth of 31,700 ft in 3,400 ft of water on Green Canyon Block 432, cut more than 120 ft of net oil pay in several high-quality sands. The site is 12 miles north of the Marco Polo platform. Anadarko will drill a sidetrack appraisal well within a year.

Anadarko will move the Belford Dolphin drill ship to Africa for three assignments, the Venus prospect in Block SL-6/07 off Sierra Leone, the South Grand Lahou prospect in Block 105 off Ivory Coast, and a multiwell deepwater program off Mozambique. Venus and South Grand Lahou have seismic signatures and characteristics similar to giant Jubilee field off Ghana, Anadarko noted.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko is drilling the Vito Miocene prospect on Mississippi Canyon Block 984, where it is operator with 20% interest, with results due within weeks. Two exploratory wells were unsuccessful: the Turtle Lake Lower Tertiary prospect in the gulf at 20% interest and the Gouda presalt prospect off Brazil at 30%.