Ophir Hits with Equa G Well

Ophir Energy has hit gas offshore Equatorial Guinea with the drilling of the Tonel-1 well on Block R. The well intersected a 182-meter gas column in the mid-Miocene sandstone target with a total of 117 meters of net pay.

The discovery has exceeded pre-drill expectations with estimated in-place resources of 1.1 TCf and a recoverable mean resource of 800 Bcf, taking the de-risked gas resources estimate for the block to 2.2 Tcf.

“Tonel represents the fifth and largest gas discovery on Block R to date and importantly represents a significant step towards the commercial threshold volumes required for a second train of LNG from Equatorial Guinea,” said Ophir's chief executive Nick Cooper.

The well is the first in the three-well program for Ophir’s operated Block R in 2012. The rig used to drill the well, the Eirik Raude, will now undertake appraisal and satellite exploration drilling around Ophir's previous Fortuna-1 gas discovery.

The Fortuna East-1 and Fortuna West-1 wells will appraise 603 Bcf of the Fortuna Fan discovery and also target additional exploration volumes of 833 Bcf.