ExxonMobil is assessing commerciality of the Avestruz-1 well, which struck oil in Block EG-06 offshore Equatorial Guinea, the nation's Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy said today (11 December).
Drilled in October by the West Polaris drillship in around 3400ft (1050m) of water, Avestruz-1 is located about 160km offshore Malabo in an exploration area adjacent to ExxonMobil’s Zafiro field. ExxonMobil signed the production sharing contract for Block EG-06 in 2015. This year, the company entered nearby Block EG-11.
Equatorial Guinea’s government has partnered with ExxonMobil in Block EG-06 through a 20% stake held by GEPetrol, the nation’s national oil company. A local ExxonMobil subsidiary is operator with 80%.
At Zafiro, ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary is operator with 71.25% interest, GEPetrol holds 23.75% and the state holds 5%. Zafiro has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil since 1996.
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Exxon, others add Equatorial Guinea acreage