Testing at Sankofa-2 ST
Our West African portfolio will sustain very significant growth in the coming years and we continue to pursue new business opportunities in the region, which is substantially under-explored, offering significant longer term growth potential.
Ghana
Vitol E&P holds a 44.44% non-operated working interest in an exploration block offshore western Ghana. The Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) block is located in the prolific Tano/Cape Three Points Basin, where some of the largest oil accumulations offshore Africa have been discovered in the last seven years.
The Côte d’Ivoire Basin opened after the separation of the South American and African plates during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. The OCTP concession lies at the eastern edge of the Côte d’Ivoire Basin, within the Tano sub-basin. This sub-basin contains the Upper Cretaceous depositional systems that laid down the deep-water Turonian-Senonian reservoirs found to be hydrocarbon-bearing in recent discoveries.
The OCTP licence covers 694 sq km, in water depths ranging from 50 to 1,400 metres, and lies adjacent to the West Cape Three Points block containing the Jubilee and Odum oil discoveries. In 2009, Vitol E&P drilled the Sankofa-1A exploration well in 860m of water, which encountered a net hydrocarbon column of approximately 36 metres, comprising a gas column of 33 metres and a 3-metre oil column in reservoir sands of Late Cretaceous, Campanian, age. A successful appraisal well was drilled on the Sankofa discovery in 2011 confirming additional resources and well-connected channel bodies with excellent quality high porosity reservoir sand. When tested the well flowed a constrained rate of around 29 mmscf/d. The data is being incorporated into detailed development planning, which is on-going. In 2010, a further 860 sq km 3D seismic survey was acquired to augment the 1,037 sq km 3D seismic survey completed in 2007. The seismic programme covered the eastern area of the block where an exploration well was drilled on the Gye Nyame prospect in 2011. Gye Nyame-1 discovered a high quality Campanian gas reservoir with circa 31m of net pay lying within a 3-way structural closure. A deeper Cenomanian channel sand was also encountered by the well, where the edge of an oil column was intersected and sampled. The discovery will be the subject of future appraisal drilling which will evaluate a potentially large extension of both reservoir sands in an up-dip stratigraphic trap.
Vitol E&P transferred operatorship for the OCTP block to ENI Ghana Exploration and Production Limited under a farm-in transaction in 2009. ENI holds a 55.56% working interest in the licence and GNPC a 15% carried interest.
In Vitol, we recognise the need to be sensitive to the cultural, economic, political and environmental concerns of local communities and to ensure that the impact of our activities, whether onshore or offshore, is mitigated to the maximum practical extent. To that end, we take time to listen and learn.
In Ghana, our seismic surveying ship was working round the clock. Local fishermen noticed that the ship’s bright lights were attracting a lot of fish at night and began fishing in the path of the vessel. Their small wooden boats were undetectable on radar, putting them at risk of a collision. Together, we worked on a solution which involved attaching small metal radar reflectors to the fishing boats so that they could be seen at all times. We designed and tested the reflectors and then commissioned local people to manufacture them. Once distributed to the fishing communities, the fishermen were able to safely continue their business as we carried on with ours.
