MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Oil discovery off French Guiana, “mirror” of Jubilee field off Ghana, says Tullow

Angus McCoss: “The discovery at Zaedyus has proved the extension of the Jubilee-play across the Atlantic”

Tullow Oil has announced an oil discovery from an exploration well off the coast of French Guiana. The drilling encountered 72 metres of net oil pay in two turbidite fans.

The company said the objective of the Zaedyus well was to test whether its productive Jubilee field off the coast of Ghana, West Africa, was mirrored on the other side of the Atlantic.

“This discovery therefore opens a new hydrocarbon basin within which several neighbouring prospects have been mapped” the Tullow release said. An appraisal program and extensive follow-up exploration activities will now be considered.

Tullow (27.5%) operates the Guyane Maritime license and is partnered by Shell (45%), Total (25%) and Northpet (2.5%), a company owned 50% by Northern Petroleum plc and 50% by Wessex Exploration plc.

“The discovery at Zaedyus has proved the extension of the Jubilee-play across the Atlantic and made an important new discovery in French Guiana,“ said Angus McCoss, Tullow’s Exploration Director.

”Tullow has built a commanding and unique acreage position in South America and this result marks the start of a significant and potentially transformational long-term exploration and appraisal campaign in the region”.

The Zaedyus well is being drilled using the ENSCO 8503 deepwater semi submersible. The well is in water depths of 2,048 metres and has been drilled to a depth of 5,711 metres. Drilling operations will now continue and the well will be deepened to over 6,000 metres to calibrate the deeper geology. The well will then likely be sidetracked to enable cores to be obtained over the reservoir sections, said Tullow.

The Zaedyus result also reduces the exploration risk associated with Tullow's prospect inventory offshore French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana.

Tullow is described as a leading independent oil and gas, exploration and production group, quoted on the London, Irish and Ghanaian stock exchanges and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

The Group has interests in over 90 exploration and production licences across 22 countries and focuses on four core areas: Africa, Europe, South Asia and South America.

In Africa, Tullow has production in Ghana, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Congo (Brazzaville) and Equatorial Guinea with two large appraisal and development programmes in Ghana and Uganda. Tullow also has exploration interests in Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania, Madagascar, Namibia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Tullow's European interests are focused on gas in the UK Southern North Sea where it has significant interests in the Caister-Murdoch System and the Thames area and in the Netherlands where it has offshore gas production, development and exploration opportunities.

In South Asia, Tullow has exploration and production in Bangladesh and exploration interests in Pakistan. In South America, Tullow has exploration interests in the lower Caribbean, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname.