Etinde Article17 Mar 2018 14:45
Partners line up Etinde exploration campaign
NewAge, Lukoil and Bowleven have jack-up en route to Cameroon for appraisal work, with promising secondary targets
Iain Esau
London
16 Mar 2018 00:00 GMT
Share: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn E-mail Print
Privately-owned NewAge and its partners in the Etinde permit off Cameroon are set to start a two-well exploration campaign in May or June this year.
Eli Chahin, chief executive of 25% asset stakeholder Bowleven, told Upstream that the jack-up Topaz Driller is due in country towards the end of May and that may push out a couple of weeks.
The rig, which is currently in Singapore, has been fixed for 150 days and will be used to appraise the Isongo Marine-5 gas and condensate discovery.
Located south of IM-5, the IM-6 appraisal wells main target is a potential 200 to 280-metre Intra Isongo sand column that could contain 870 billion cubic feet of gas. Its secondary targets are the shallower Grinder formation and deeper Yankee zone, which house potential resources of 1.1 trillion cubic feet and 200 Bcf, respectively.
A sidetrack could also be drilled off IM-6, with the well designed for conversion to a producer in the event of success.
The IM-7 well has been designed to assess the size of the Grinder formation.
Chahin said Bowleven�s conservative estimate is that the two wells could find 1 Tcf of gas plus 200 million barrels of liquids. Additional resources would supplement the 1.1 Tcf, plus liquids, discovered so far at Etinde, which is already enough to support a floating liquefied natural gas project. Commenting on the NewAge-driven FLNG scheme, Chahin said: "We've got a commercial project now. It�s a very important project that we�re trying to get off the ground."
He added that successful appraisal results will create "a much more lucrative commercial project to be able to take to a final investment decision."
Tentatively, a final investment decision is targeted for next year, with first production about three years later. Chahin said the FLNG scheme is a multi-billion-dollar project, so Bowleven may decide to scale back its interest or sell it entirely instead of funding its way through the development.
That might be the opportunity to realise some value for shareholders or find out shareholder appetite to play along the value chain.
Both Jersey-registered New-Age and Russia's Lukoil have 37.5% stakes in Etinde.
The Bomono permit onshore Cameroon is Bowleven's only other asset, which, despite delays, it plans to offload to Victoria Oil & Gas.
Sign In
Follow the stocks
