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Chauvco acquires three Gabon blocks

May 5, 1997

Chauvco's Gabon Permits [30791 bytes] Chauvco Resources Ltd., Calgary, has signed three new exploration and production-sharing contracts with Gabon. The Ngalo, Maga, and Avomo permits encompass 2.06 million acres, adjoining Chauvco's existing Remboué and Mondah Bay permits. Ngalo and Maga include coastal waters. The new permits make Chauvco the fifth-largest acreage holder in Gabon, with gross landholdings totaling 2.66 million acres.

Chauvco's Gabon Permits [30791 bytes]

Chauvco Resources Ltd., Calgary, has signed three new exploration and production-sharing contracts with Gabon.

The Ngalo, Maga, and Avomo permits encompass 2.06 million acres, adjoining Chauvco's existing Remboué and Mondah Bay permits. Ngalo and Maga include coastal waters. The new permits make Chauvco the fifth-largest acreage holder in Gabon, with gross landholdings totaling 2.66 million acres.

The permits cover two exploration terms-one 3-year term and an optional 2-year period. During the first period, Chauvco is required to reprocess seismic data and drill five exploration wells to depths of 500-1,500 m.

A previous operator drilled eight wells and acquired 600 line km of 2D seismic data in 1989-91. The resulting 1991 Remboué discovery has estimated undeveloped reserves of 10-15 million bbl of 34° gravity oil at a depth of 400 m (OGJ, Aug. 5, 1996, p. 57).

The Maga and Avomo permits cover a dense tropical rain forest, similar to the Remboué permit area. Access to the permits is by barge using the Remboué and Maga rivers. Ngalo, which surrounds Libreville, includes the shallow waters of Estuaire du Gabon.

Oil produced under the permits would be moved to a storage and off-loading complex at an existing export terminal on the coast.

Current drilling

Separately, Chauvco is drilling its eighth horizontal well in Remboué field. All previous horizontal wells have been cased and completed for production.

Tests indicate the reservoir has a productive capacity of 700-1,500 b/d/well, the company said.

Chauvco expects to start production from the field in the third quarter at an initial rate of 7,500 b/d (OGJ, Mar. 10, 1997, p. 78). It has a 50% interest, acquired through a farmout.