Kosmos firing up Akeng Deep play

摘要

LONDON-listed independent Kosmos Energy has its eyes firmly focused on drilling an exploration target offshore Equatorial Guinea that could open up a new 1 billion barrel oil play close to existing production facilities. Kosmos entered Equatorial Guinea in 2017 after buying Hess' upstream portfolio and agreeing a deal in which London-based Trident Energy would run the producing Ceiba and Oveng-Okume fields in Block G, leaving Kosmos to handle exploration in nearby acreage. The partners' gameplan has been to try to maintain and optimise production at Ceiba and Oveng-Okume via 4D seismic, infill drilling and facility debot-tlenecking, while also working up nearby exploration prospects in the Rio Muni basin that could be drilled and quickly and cheaply tied back to the producing fields. Drilled in 2019, the first near-field probe was a success, with the Asam-1 well in Block S hitting 39 metres of net oil pay in a Late Cretaceous reservoir. However, Kosmos is now aiming to open up a new Lower-to-Middle Cretaceous - or Albian - petroleum system, targeting the 180 million-barrel Akeng Deep prospect, also in Block S.