Ghana 
Second oil discovery made off Ghana

afrol News, 18 October - The British oil company Dana Petroleum Plc today reports a second oil find in Ghana's shallow-water region. The commerciality of the discovery is now assessed. Meanwhile, the company reports "progress with deep water prospects," which have an even higher commercial potential.

Ghana has not yet produced noteworthy quantities of oil despite decades of state-sponsored explorations. Within two years, however, Dana Petroleum has managed to incite oil fever in the otherwise down to earth Ghanaian society. Two small discoveries have been made in shallow waters off Ghana and in deep waters, large fan structures that typically hold large quantities of oil have been found. 

Dana today reports that its so-called WT-2X well has been completed in the shallow-water region of the Western Tano Contract Area as a follow up to a nearby well drilled in 2000. At 6,135 feet below sea level, the well had encountered "a 75 feet interval of oil bearing Upper Campanian reservoir," similar to that production tested in the nearby well.

This, according to Dana, was "demonstrating the lateral extent of the previous find." Detailed analysis of well results, including reservoir fluid samples recovered from the well, were now underway "to assess the commerciality of the Upper Campanian oil accumulation," the company reports. 

This is the first time that oil discoveries in Ghanaian shallow waters are given any hope of commerciality. Discoveries have so far been too small, to disperse or a too poor quality. Shallow-water oil production however demands significantly less investments than deep-water production, lowering the quantity and quality limits for commerciality. 

Concurrently with the shallow-water drilling operations, extensive geoscience work had continued to refine drilling locations in the deep-water area of Dana's licence, the company further reports. Here, the geology is quite different. 

Several "high-potential structures" had now been defined, according to Dana's communiqué. "These deep-water prospects are an order of magnitude larger than previous finds in the shallow water, with each structure having the potential to contain several hundred million barrels of oil. Preliminary operational planning is in progress with a view to commencing deep-water drilling in late 2003."

As Dana is making promising discoveries off the Ghanaian coast, rising oil prices and a nervous oil market are further playing into the commerciality of Ghana's oil reserves. The Ghanaian Minister for Mines and Energy, Albert Kan-Dapaah, has noted a sudden, intense interest by international oil companies lately.

Minister Kan-Dapaah is currently meeting with several of the world's major oil companies. "The majors are in exploratory talks with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation," he confirmed in a recent interview with the news agency Reuters, without naming names. The Minister already is talking a possible oil production of more than 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) within the next five years. 

So far, however, only exploration deals have been made - especially with US companies. According to the Accra-based 'Ghanaian Chronicle', Vanco Energy Company from Houston, Texas, is planning to invest US$ 30 million in oil exploration off Ghana. Further, the US companies Devon Energy Corp and EnCana Corp jointly were investing US$ 56 million.

Sources: Based on Dana, Ghanaian govt and press and afrol archives

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