Eni drilling confirms Ghana’s Sankofa East discovery in “commercial standing” with 450 million barrels of oil

oilIt has been confirmed that the Sankofa East 2A offshore Ghana is holding about 450 million barrels of oil as Italian oil firm Eni announced January 17, 2012 a successful drilling of the appraisal well.

According to Eni, the drilling was important because it confirmed the “commercial standing of the oil discovery” in the Offshore Cape Three Points (OTCP) block located in the Tano Basin,  around 50 km off the coast of Ghana.

Eni estimates an overall potential of the discovery to be around 450 million barrels of oil in place with recoverable resources of up to 150 million barrels.

The Sankofa East 2A well was drilled in 990 meters of water and reached a total depth of 4,050 meters.

The well also encountered 23 meters of  gas and condensate gross pay (17 meters net), and 76 meters of gross oil pay (30° API, 32 meters net) in good sands of cretaceous age.

Eni says it has “immediately” commenced plans for the commercial exploitation of the oil reserves adding that there are also ongoing engineering studies for the development and commercialization of the gas reserves of the block in accordance with the principles sanctioned in the Memorandum of Understanding it recently signed with Vitol and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) with the Ministry of Energy.

The MoU focuses particularly on the domestic gas market, in which Eni and its joint venture partners aim to play a prominent role.

Eni is the operator of the OCTP block with a 47.222% share. Other partners are Vitol Upstream Ghana Limited, with a 37.778% share, and state company GNPC with a 15% share. GNPC has an option for an additional 5% share.

Eni currently operates two exploration offshore blocks OCTP and Keta.

By Ekow Quandzie

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