Azinam secures deepwater drillship for Prospect S, offshore Namibia
WINDHOEK, Namibia -- Azinam Limited, the Seacrest Capital Group backed explorer focused on offshore Namibia, has announced that the Ocean Rig Poseidon sixth generation deepwater drillship has been contracted by the license partnership to drill one firm and one optional well, with the first well targeting Prospect S, located in Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) 71, offshore Namibia.
The well has been strategically designed to test multiple zones, including Aptian, Albian and Cenomanian-Turonian targets and is expected to spud in fourth-quarter 2018.
Prospect S has a gross mean prospective resource of 459 MMbbl and is one of five dip-closed structural traps in close proximity to each other in an Upper Cretaceous turbidite clastic fairway, with a combined total of 1,758 MMbbl of gross mean prospective resources. In addition, there are a further two higher risk stratigraphic traps in PEL 71 with a combined total of 885 MMbbl of gross mean prospective resources, which would be de-risked through the improved calibration of 6,100 km2 of 3D seismic data using the results from the Prospect S well.
As previously announced, Azinam intends to drill multiple exploration wells offshore Namibia in the next 24 months. The company holds one of the largest acreage positions offshore Namibia, second only to NAMCOR the national oil company. Azinam is ideally placed to capitalize on success within the Walvis basin, as its working interests range from 20%-42.5% in six licenses across the majority of the basin. These licenses hold over 9 Bbbl of prospective resources and are strategically positioned to allow access to the multiple play types within the basin. Furthermore, Azinam holds an extensive proprietary seismic database comprising nine individual surveys, three 2D surveys and six 3D modern broadband seismic data surveys, which cover more than 13,000 km.
