Tullow hits oil pay in deep waters offshore Ghana

Tullow announced that the Owo-1 exploration well in the Deepwater Tano license offshore Ghana has intersected a significant column of excellent quality light oil, potentially adding a billion barrels of oil equivalent to the resource estimate for the area. Results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluids have established Owo as a major new oil field requiring further appraisal.

The deviated well, located approximately 6km to the west of the Tweneboa wells, has encountered a gross vertical reservoir interval of 154 meters containing 53 meters of net oil pay in two zones of high quality stacked reservoir sandstones. Pressure data indicates that these zones are part of the same accumulation and samples show that it is a light oil of between 33 and 36 degrees API.

Following completion of logging operations the well will be sidetracked 0.6km east to provide additional information on lateral reservoir distribution and to intersect a deeper part of the Owo channel system.

The Sedco-702 dynamically positioned semi-submersible drilled Owo-1 to a final depth of 3,891 meters in water depths of 1,428 meters. On completion of operations on the Owo-1 sidetrack, the rig will remain in the Deepwater Tano block to drill the Onyina-1 exploration well which targets a large fan/channel system between the Tweneboa and Jubilee fields.

Tullow (49.95%) operates the Deepwater Tano licence and is partnered by Kosmos Energy Ghana (18%), Anadarko Petroleum (18%), Sabre Oil & Gas (4.05%) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) (10% carried interest).

Commenting today, Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, said, "Owo-1 has made a very substantial light oil discovery and continues the success of Tullow's Equatorial Atlantic exploration campaign in West Africa. Given this success, we are immediately drilling an appraisal sidetrack to further assess the size of this find. Accelerated appraisal drilling will now focus on maturing the resources in both Owo and the adjacent Tweneboa accumulation towards commercialization."