Gambia on radar for Aker Geo
23.05.2001
Norwegian seismic consultancy Aker Geo and Stavanger-based Upstream
Management have completed initial energy studies for the government of Gambia,
including upstream and downstream sectors.
The project team hopes to ready a broader sub-regional plan for hydrocarbon
development within a month, according to a senior executive source.
Initial studies and seminars were funded by the World Bank but additional
external finance will be required to support further activity. Ideas are currently
"being firmed up" while means are sought to push forward a plan for the wider
Senegambian territory.
Senegal has several offshore blocks under licence but has yet to see awarded a
pending contract for 2000 kilometres of World Bank-funded seismic.
Meanwhile, Gambia's deep-water tracts are under licence while the shallows
remain free. Still unexplored by punters are the extensive adjacent offshore tracts
that are under the sovereign jurisdiction of Cape Verde.
The only 2D seismic shot in Cape Verde was contracted by Shell in 1973 before
the former Portuguese colony achieved independence. That focused on southern
waters and the area surrounding the eastern island of Maio located just 600
kilometres off Dakar but was never followed up.
Spurred by encouraging satellite imagery, "several Brazilian, Australian and UK
exploration companies have registered interest tracts close to mainland Africa's
continental shelf but nothing firm has yet emerged".
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Results in line with company's forecast
Fusion soaks up loss
03.04.2001
Fusion Oil and Gas, the UK listed junior focused on west Africa, posted an after-
tax loss of £179,000 ($255,000) for the six months ending 31 December, a figure
the company says is in line with its forecast when it floated on London's
Alternative Investment Market in September.
The company, which is headed up by managing director Alan Stein, has no
established production or reserves but it expects results from the first deep-water
well off Mauritania in 30-40 days.
Being drilled by Scarabeo 7, the Chinguetti-1 wildcat in Woodside's block B is
thought to have spudded already. On completion of this well, the rig will mobilise
to drill the nearby Courbine-1 probe in the same block, an operation expectd to
take 40-60 days.
Onshore Ghana, Fusion plans to spud an exploration well on the Tiboko North
prospect next month. Potential recoverable reserves are 50 million barrels. The
company is also in various stages of evaluating data from its acreage offshore
Gambia, Senegal/Guinea Bissau, Gabon and Cameroon.
------------------
Fusion mixes its African cocktail
04.12.1999
Aussie minnow adds appetising plays to bevy of offshore tracts
PERTH-based Fusion Oil and Gas has signed three new petroleum licences --
two in Gabon and one off Gambia -- after securing additional investment funding
from a major UK institution. The unlisted exploration company aims to go public
within 12 months, having also acquired exploration interests in Mauritania, Liberia,
Ghana and the Senegal/Guinea-Bissau joint zone. The Gabon production sharing
contracts are for the Iris Marin (P93) and Themis Marin (formerly Kouango) blocks
where Fusion landed a 38.57% operating interest alongside fellow Aussie explorer
Hardman Resources (12.86%), Sunburnt Downs Pastoral (25.71%), Horizon
Energy (12.86%) and Millennium Oil Corporation (10%). Water depths reach 50
metres and both permits cover a total of 2000 square kilometres. Iris lies adjacent
to Shell's Gamba field, which has produced some 200 million barrels to date from
Aptian Gamba sandstone that Fusion believes extends offshore. Earlier poor
imaging deterred suitors, the partners said, and a fresh subsalt structure map is
now planned for the play, which Fusion exploration director Jonathan Taylor
believes to contain oil. Themis Marin lies north-west of the offshore Lucinia field,
which has produced in excess of 75 million barrels. The partners pointed out that
the Vaalco Energy-operated Etame Marine contract area just to the north flowed
3500 barrels per day two years ago, indicating two petroleum systems and two
prolific source intervals with interesting exploration objectives . Both the Iris and
Themis ventures must conduct an active exploration programme, including drilling
at least three wells within nine years, and re-map the subsalt followed by either
additional 2D or 3D seismic. Fusion also signed a six-year production licence with
Gambia on a 5000 square-kilometre offshore plot extending to water depths
beyond 2000 metres. At least two wells are committed and additional seismic
must be attained in the first two years. A trial line has just been shot by Veritas,
which begins a more extensive sweep next month. Gambia's unsung prospects
stem from a satellite seep detection study commissioned from UK consultants
NPA, revealing an alignment of distinctive, repeatable anomalies in the deep water
. Fusion managing director Alan Stein said: The results of these studies have
revealed previously unrecognised deep-water exploration potential (enabling)
Fusion to embark upon a fast-track exploration programme that will commence
within weeks of signing the licence.
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