Monday 28 August 2017

Early indications from the keenly watched Fatala-1 wildcat being drilled by Hyperdynamics off Guinea support its geological model, according to the US explorer.

The top portion of the well - the deepest ever to be drilled off Africa - has been completed and it has now reached a depth of 4270 metres, with 13⅜-inch casing to be set at a depth of 4545 metres above the potentially hydrocarbon-bearing interval towards a targeted total depth of around 4900 metres, the Houston-based company stated in an update.

A formation integrity test carried out after 20-inch casing was set while drilling the upper 17½-inch hole “provided further positive confirmation that the geologic model being utilised in the well planning and design is accurate”, Hyperdynamics said.

The well being drilled by drillship Pacific Scirocco about 165 kilometres off the West African country is targeting a prospect estimated to hold probable recoverable resources of 647 million barrels of oil.

The company stated background gas levels for the Paleocene and Upper Cretaceous sections of the targeted reservoir have been consistently 200% of that encountered in the equivalent section of its nearby unsuccessful Sabu-1 probe drilled in 2011, which supports geophysicists’ belief there is a gas cloud overlying the prospect.

Hyperdynamics is now closing in on the final phase of drilling at the delayed well, which was spudded in late July and has an estimated duration of 40 days.

"In the final drilling stage, we will drill the 12¼-inch hole through the interval that we believe holds the potential for a world-class hydrocarbon discovery," chief executive Ray Leonard said.

The company holds a 50% operating stake in the well with Lagos-based South Atlantic Petroleum on the remaining 50% after a farm-out deal earlier this year.