Tullow reports Cormorant-1 well off Namibia comes up dry
By Rick Wilkinson
Oil & Gas Journal Correspondent
Tullow Oil PLC group’s much-touted offshore Namibian wildcat, Cormorant-1, has been plugged and abandoned as a dry hole in the Walvis basin about 420 km south of the Angola-Namibia border.
Joint venture partner Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL, Perth, said the well in permit PEL 37 reached a total measured depth of 3,855 m materially quicker than the prognoses.
The well was drilled by Ocean Rig’s Ocean Rig Poseidon dynamically positioned deepwater drillship in 545 m of water.
The early Cretaceous-age submarine fan target was encountered close to the predicted depth, but no accumulated hydrocarbons were found.
Pancontinental said the fan contained a 50-m thickness of interbedded sands and claystones that were water wet. On the upside, there were some gas indications found in the overlying shale section that persisted throughout the target interval indicating there has been hydrocarbon generation in the area.
Pancontinental said the group had gained substantial geological information that is applicable to Aptian-Cenomanian age turbidite fans that are still valid exploration plays in the company’s acreage in PEL 37 and further south in PEL 87. Some of these have larger resource potential than Cormorant.
Cormorant-1 was the first modern well to penetrate this stratigraphic section in PEL 37 and the combine is in the early stages of analyzing the results. Pancontinental said the well data support the presence of at least one active source rock system with encouraging implications for a range of mapped play types.
Participants in Cormorant-1 are operator Tullow Oil 35%, Pancontinental Namibia Pty. Ltd. 30%, ONGC Videsh Ltd. 30%, and Namibian company Paragon Oil & Gas Pty. Ltd. 5%.
Pancontinental Namibia is owned 66.67% by parent company Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL and 33.33% by Africa Energy Corp.
