Continental Focus, International Reach

Panoro Increases Tortue Resources

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Panoro Energy reported that its resources on the Dussafu PSC offshore Gabon, which contains the Tortue field, have increased by 50%, according to a new oil reserves review from independent reserves auditor Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc. (NSAI).

John Hamilton, CEO of Panoro, said: “The 50% increase in the mid-case scenario compared with the end of 2017 reserve report combined with the strong oil production clearly demonstrates the value of Tortue and more generally the huge potential for Dussafu to become a world-class producing asset. We are very excited by the initial production performance and look forward to continuing delivering strong results at Dussafu.”

The Tortue field is one of five existing oil discoveries in the Dussafu Exclusive Exploitation Area (EEA) in which Panoro currently holds an 8.33% working interest.
As a result of the successful 2018 development drilling campaign at Tortue, previously reported Contingent Resources from the western flank of the field have now been re-categorized as reserves. Consequently, the 2P gross remaining reserves at Tortue have substantially increased by 11.6 million barrels, approximately 50% higher as compared to year end 2017. The remaining reserves are calculated after deducting 1.2 million barrels produced during 2018. The NSAI estimates are based on a total of six wells at Tortue.
The NSAI reserves review does not yet include the other four discovered fields in the EEA (Ruche, Ruche North East, Moubenga and Walt Whitman) which will be updated in due course. In addition, the independent reserves review also does not include prospective resources associated with the numerous prospects and leads already identified within the EEA.
NSAI has calculated the following estimates for the total gross economically recoverable oil reserves as at December 31, 2018; Proved (1P) reserves of 25.9 million barrels, Proved + Probable (2P) reserves of 35.1 million barrels, and Proved + Probable + Possible (3P) reserves of 48.3 million barrels.
Following first oil in mid-September 2018, gross production from Tortue totaled 1.2 million barrels during Q4 2018, which included a number of well shut-ins and pressure build up tests. For the full 2018 Q4 gross production at Tortue was an average of 11,800 bpd. The first cargo of approximately 550,000 barrels of oil from Dussafu was successfully offloaded from the BW Adolo FPSO in early-December. The achieved price was around $56 per barrel. A second lifting of 310,000 barrels of oil for the government of Gabon was completed later that same month.
Production during January 2019 has continued strongly, with the monthly average of 12,977 barrels of oil per day. To date there has been no occurrence of wax detected and no water produced from the field. A third lifting of 650,000 barrels of crude was achieved at the beginning of February, with a sales price of approximately $59 per barrel. Given the largely fixed operating cost base of the FPSO development, opex per barrel is highly dependent on production rates. Panoro estimates that opex per barrel will optimize once Phase 2 production is on line.
Panoro is in the midst of Phase 2 planning activities with drilling due to commence in H2 2019. In this second phase of Tortue, up to four development wells will be drilled in the Gamba and Dentale reservoirs with production start-up of the phase 2 wells projected for Q1 2020. Once all the Phase 1 and Phase 2 wells at Tortue are in production, targeted initial rates are anticipated to be over 20,000 barrels of oil per day from Tortue. The Phase 2 drilling program will also comprise of at least two exploration wells in the Dussafu PSC.


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