New oil, gas discoveries underscore Africa’s untapped energy potential

From Cote d’Ivoire to Ma¬laysia, new
The Total-operated Saphir-1XB ex¬ploration well on Block CI-514 proved the presence of liquid hydrocarbons in the deep offshore west of Ivory Coast.
“Drilled in an abrupt margin play, this first well is the first discovery in the San Pedro Basin, a frontier exploration area in Ivory Coast,” said Marc Blaizot, senior vice president, exploration at To¬tal. “Having confirmed the presence of a petroleum system containing light oil, we will next evaluate this very promising find and focus on its extension to the north and east.” Global oil giant Shell, which an¬nounced an exploration discovery offshore Malaysia, said the successful ‘Rosmari-1’ well is located 135 kilome¬tres offshore in Block SK318, and was drilled to a total depth of 2,123 metres.
The well encountered more than 450 metres of gas column. “With further exploration planned, the finding is a positive indicator of the gas potential in an area of strategic interest for Shell,” the company said.
“This adds to Shell’s sequence of re¬cent exploration successes in Malaysia, with these discoveries expanding the company’s heartlands positions,” said Iain Lo, chairman Shell Malaysia.
In Senegal, Australian energy com¬pany FAR Ltd. reported that one of its partners in the country, operator Cairn Energy, has spud the first well on the acreage. The first well in a two-well pro¬gram, the FAN-1, will test a stacked fan structure with the potential to contain approximately 900 million barrels of oil.
The FAN-1 well is a pure exploration well and, even if successful, will not be completed as a commercial produc¬tion well.
Earlier this year, Tullow Oil Plc made two new discoveries in Kenya, boosting prospects for turning East Africa’s larg¬est economy into an oil exporter.
The UK oil explorer doubled its Kenyan resource estimates to more than 600 million barrels after the Amos¬ing and Ewoi wells found crude. The company plans more than 20 wells in northern Kenya over the next two years.
In Nigeria, Afren and Lekoil recently made a significant light oil discovery at the high-impact Ogo-1 well located at Oil Prospecting Lease 310, located adjacent to the Lagos shoreline. Oil was also discovered at the Aje field located at Oil Mining Lease 113, which lies in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 113 in the Benin Basin, about 43 kilometres offshore Lagos, by Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum and Chevron Nigeria.

oil discoveries were disclosed last week, highlighting the immense oil and gas resources in Africa increasingly attracting investment from international oil companies.