Pancontinental Oil & Gas has announced that the PEL 37 joint venture is on schedule for the upcoming drilling of the highly anticipated Cormorant-1 well, offshore Namibia
Namibia set to increase oil and gas activities. (Image source: byronv2/Flickr)
Operator Tullow Namibia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil, is well underway with preparations for the commencement of drilling of the Cormorant-1 well as projected in September 2018.
Reporting to the press, Pancontinental said that the well will be drilled by the drillship Ocean Rig Poseidon in a water depth of 545 metre and is expected to take 34 days to reach Total Depth. Ocean Rig Poseidon has already been mobilised to Namibia to drill Cormorant-1.
Almost 70 per cent of critical well service contracts have been let with a number of local Namibian companies successfully securing contracts during the tendering process being managed by Tullow Oil.
The Australian oil and gas company’s Namibian projects are located in the Walvis and Orange Basins offshore Namibia, West Africa. The company farmed out to Tullow in 2013 and will now be fully carried through the cost of drilling the well.
Pancontinental will also boost its cash reserves by US$5.5mn with the second stage payment due from Africa Energy Corp at the spud of Cormorant-1 expected in September.
In addition to the entry into the project of Africa Energy in September last year, Indian oil and gas Company ONGC Videsh also farmed in. Earlier this year, Africa-focused oil major ExxonMobil announced its farmin to PEL 82 for a 40 per cent interest.
At the oil and gas drilling in the PEL 37 joint venture, Tullow Namibia will hold 35 per cent interest, with Pancontinental Namibia holding 30 per cent, ONGC Videsh 30 per cent and Paragon Oil & Gas five per cent of interest.
Commenting on West Africa’s upcoming oil and gas drilling of Cormorant-1, John Begg, CEO of Pancontinental, said, “We are on track for the drilling of Cormorant-1 in September. According to Wood Mackenzie, the global energy research and consultancy group that reports on all aspects of the upstream oil and gas industry, this will be one of the most –watched offshore wells anywhere in the world this year.”
