PetroEnergy concludes appraisal drilling in Gabon

Listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp. said Wednesday that its appraisal drilling at the southeast Etame oil discovery in offshore Gabon, West Africa — through the Etame Marin joint venture — was already completed. "Southeast Etame No. 1 exploration well was drilled to a total depth of 2,757 meters, encountering approximately five meters of Gamba sandstone section, which logged oil full to base," PetroEnergy said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. PetroEnergy said the Houston-based Vaalco Energy, the joint venture's operator, completed a second sidetrack of the well and premilinary information indicates an oil column of up to 27 meters based upon the estimated oil-water contract. "Further analyses are ongoing to estimate the size of the discovery and to assess potential development strategies," PetroEnergy said. The firm said the drilling rig "Sapphire Driller" is set to move to the Etame field to drill a new horizontal development well, Etame 7H. The well is designed to replace the original vertical discovery well ET-1V and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter. On June 15, the joint-venture partners agreed to drill two additional wells immediately following the four well program. The first well, ETBSM-2H, will be a development well in the South Tchibala field. The second well, ETOMG-1, will be an exploration well to test both the Gamba and Dentale reservoirs in the Omangou prospect. The prospect is located approximately three kilometer southeast of the Ebouri platform and six kilometers northwest of the center of the Etame field. PetroEnergy owns 2.525 percent of the Etame petroleum service contract (SC) 93 in Gabon, West Africa. Other consortium members are Sojitz Etame Ltd., PanOcean Energy Gabon Corp., Sasol Petroleum West Africa Ltd., Energy Africa Gabon SA, and Vaalco. PetroEnergy holds several interests in petroleum contracts in the Philippines. It holds a 16.7 percent stake in SC 6A covering Northwest Palawan, 4.14 percent of SC 14C also in Northwest Palawan, 0.4 percent in SC 47 located in Offshore Mindoro, and 4.012 percent in SC 51 at the East Visayan Sea. —JE, GMANews.TV