EQUATORIAL GUINEA GETS FIRST OIL STRIKE

Units of Mobil Corp. and United Meridian Corp. (UMC) have tested Equatorial Guinea's first significant oil discovery. Appraisal is to begin in April with spudding of a well to delineate the Zafiro prospect on 547,000 acre Block B off Equatorial Guinea in the Gulf of Guinea. The West African country currently produces only gas and condensate from offshore Alba field. Mobil-UMC's 1 Zafiro wildcat flowed more than 10,500 b/d of oil and 3.4 MMcfd of gas on tests of Miocene Qua Iboe pay at

March 27, 1995

2 min read

Units of Mobil Corp. and United Meridian Corp. (UMC) have tested Equatorial Guinea's first significant oil discovery.

Appraisal is to begin in April with spudding of a well to delineate the Zafiro prospect on 547,000 acre Block B off Equatorial Guinea in the Gulf of Guinea. The West African country currently produces only gas and condensate from offshore Alba field.

Mobil-UMC's 1 Zafiro wildcat flowed more than 10,500 b/d of oil and 3.4 MMcfd of gas on tests of Miocene Qua Iboe pay at an undisclosed depth. The well is 18 miles from Mobil's Qua Iboe production off Nigeria.

Block B operator Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc. and UMC Equatorial Guinea Corp., with 65% and 35% interest, respectively, this year plan more exploratory and appraisal drilling and have scheduled a 3D seismic survey over the tract.

Depending on results of that delineation activity, development drilling also could begin this year.

Paul J. Hoenmans, president of Mobil's exploration and production division, said further appraisal of Block B was prompted by results of the 1 Zafiro wildcat.

"The well confirms our belief that Equatorial Guinea is an area of potential and fits Mobil's strategy of finding and developing new assets for the future," Hoenmans said.

The 1 Zafiro, spudded last January, is the second hole drilled on Block B (35152 bytes). An earlier test, Mobil-UMC's 1 Delta wildcat, on a separate structure about 5 miles southwest of 1 Zafiro, was a dry hole.