Continental Focus, International Reach

Anglo African Pushes Tilapia Drilling Despite Problems

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Anglo African Oil & Gas plc provided an update on the TLP 103 well in the Republic of the Congo which encountered a number of problems during drilling.  While drilling through the shallow section a number of drilling challenges were encountered, caused by localized geological conditions, which resulted in ground movement that impacted the safe operation of the SMP 102 drilling rig. Fortunately, initial inspections did not show any damage to the rig.

The events occurred before the well had reached any of the target horizons. After a number of attempts to overcome this problem it was jointly decided by SMP (the drilling contractor) and AAOG to cease drilling, abandon the current location and move the rig 100 meters to the north  west and re-spud the well. The process to prepare the new location, move the rig and re-spud the TLP 103 well is expected to take approximately 25 days. Following the re-spud it is expected that drilling will take 64 days to complete.

In addition to contingencies in the drilling budget and potential offsets and claims under insurance policies, the company has available to it offers of debt finance sufficient to meet any cost overruns due to the delay and need to re-spud.


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