Africa-focused oil and gas company VAALCO Energy has farmed into the CI-705 block offshore Côte d’Ivoire, becoming the operator of the block with ‘significant prospectivity’.
VAALCO will become operator of the block with a 70% working interest and a 100% paying interest though a commercial carry arrangement and is partnering with Ivory Coast Exploration Oil & Gas and PETROCI.
The CI-705 block is located in the prolific Tano basin and is approximately 70 kilometers to the west of VAALCO’s CI-40 Block, where the Baobab and Kossipo oil fields are located, and 60 km west of Eni’s recent Calao discovery.
Block CI-705 covers approximately 2,300 km2 and is lightly explored with three wells drilled to date on the block.
The water depth across the block ranges from zero to 2,500 meters.
According to VAALCO, it has invested $3 million to acquire its interest in the new block which it believes has significant prospectivity.
“We believe the CI-705 block is favorably located in a proven petroleum system, near existing infrastructure with access to a strong growing domestic market with attractive upside potential.
“Under the terms of the farm-in, we will operate the block with a 70% working interest and a 100% paying interest as we carry our partners at commercial terms through the seismic reprocessing and interpretation stages and potentially drilling up to two exploration wells.
“Our initial assessment is that there are both oil and natural gas prospects on the block and we plan to conduct a detailed, integrated geological analysis to assess and mature our understanding of the block’s overall prospectivity. We have demonstrated our ability to acquire, develop and enhance value with the accretive acquisitions we have executed in the past,” said George Maxwell, Vaalco’s Chief Executive Officer.
