Springfield E&P, a wholly-owned Ghanaian independent upstream petroleum player, has commenced an appraisal of its Afina -1x Well at the West Cape Three Points (WCTP) Block 2 Offshore in the Republic of Ghana.
The company contracted Deepsea Bollsta Rig from Northern Ocean Limited (NOL) to lead its appraisal of the Afina-1x Well and this portal understands that the rig arrived at the country’s offshore on October 18 and started work on Sunday, October 20, 2024.
The appraisal of the Afina -1x Well comes barely three months after a ruling by an international court of arbitration directed Springfield E&P to undertake appraisal of the Afina Discovery to determine the possible utilisation of Afina Discovery and Sankofa Field operated by Italian oil and gas giant, Eni.
The Ghanaian firm and the Italian oil and giant have been in dispute over the claim that Afina -1x Well and Sankofa Field are connected.
At a news conference in Accra today, Wednesday, October 23, 2024, attended by top officials of Springfield E&P, Northern Ocean Limited, Halliburton and GNPC, the Chief Executive Officer of Springfield E&P, Mr. Kevin Okyere, disclosed that his outfit had projected to spend about $65 million dollars on appraising the Afina -1x Well.
According to him, his outfit has already spent about $200 million dollars on the field.
Prospects of the well
Mr. Okyere told this portal that the field that is in dispute holds about 640 million barrels out of the 2 billion barrels in the area.
Touching on the work done so far, he said “we have already done a mini DSD called MDT and the oil flowed.”
“We even took a sample of the oil and sent it to the UK to get it tested. And that’s how we got the results to say that it’s the same as that of the Sankofa Field,” he added.
Asked what would be the future of Springfield E&P if the appraisal result is not positive, Mr. Okyere responded that “with the properties that we’ve seen, it should be beyond a miracle for the oil not to flow.”
Mr. Okyere, who expressed concerns about the delay in the utilisation of the two fields, said had this been done long ago Ghana’s oil production would have increased than it is currently.
“Well, this has taken five years. I mean, honestly, we didn’t know it would take this long because I mean it went to arbitration. Arbitration also took a good amount of time.
I think the impact of this is much greater than we anticipated.
“If this had been resolved years ago, I can guarantee you that Ghana’s oil production would be far ahead than where it is today,” he said.
Despite the delay, Mr. Okyere is convinced that the country could increase its oil production if the appraisal is completed and the result is positive.
“We are very optimistic that within the next six months after completion, we will start making some positive progress and also add more production to Ghana’s oil,” he added.
Commenting on the appraisal, Mr. Jerry Greenfield, a representative of GNPC, said his outfit was very excited about the Afina Discovery because it had proven that there is more oil that sits within the basin.
He explained that work of appraisal is to unravel uncertainties around a certain discovery so that certain decisions can be taken.
He said, for example, commercial decisions and production decisions can be taken.
“We are happy at the pace at which we have moved quickly after the arbitration ruling. Within the space of three months, we have been able to mobilise this rig.
“It’s a feat that is hardly achieved by any of the major companies. They they’re not able to mobilise that quickly. And we are happy that this is being done. That will pave the way for us to be able to take the major decisions once we are able to flow this well, test flow this well, we’re able to know the flow rates that, Afina can deliver, that we can easily plan how we can develop it. And we’re happy about this project, and we are fully supportive of it,” he said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com