Tullow Oil plugs and abandons Namibia exploration well

Tullow Oil announced on Monday that the Cormorant-1 exploration well in the PEL-37 licence, offshore Namibia, had encountered non-commercial hydrocarbons, with the well now being plugged and abandoned.

The FTSE 250 company said Cormorant-1 had been drilled to a total depth of 3,855 metres, and penetrated the objectives of the Cormorant prospect.

Sandstones were encountered in the primary objective of the well, but they proved to be water bearing.

Wet gas signatures, indicative of oil, were encountered in the overlying shale section.

It said important geological data had been gained from the well, and, in combination with high quality 3D seismic data, would reportedly provide “valuable insights” into the prospectivity of the group's Namibian acreage in PEL-37 and PEL-30.

The Cormorant-1 well was said to have been drilled “safely and efficiently” by the Ocean Rig Poseidon drillship in a water depth of 548 metres.

Following a farm-out in 2017, Tullow's net expenditure on the well was expected to be about $5m.

Tullow operates the PEL-37 licence with 35% equity, and is partnered by ONGC Videsh at 30%, Pancontinental Oil & Gas at 30%, and Paragon at 5%.

“The Cormorant-1 frontier exploration well was a bold attempt to open a new oil play in this area of Tullow's offshore Namibia acreage,” said the company’s exploration director Angus McCoss.

“Gas readings while drilling continue to support the concept that there is a working oil system in the area.”

As a result, McCoss said that following the conclusion of operations, Tullow would analyse the data gathered before deciding on any future activity.

“While this is not the outcome that we had hoped for, the efficiency of our drilling and our risk management processes resulted in low financial exposure to this well.”