Cebus Well Comes up Dry off French Guiana

Tullow Oil reported Tuesday that the GM-ES-4 wildcat well offshore French Guiana, targeting the Cebus prospect, has come up dry after being drilled to a total depth of 20,645 feet. Meanwhile, the firm also announced that it had found gas in a well in Area 2 offshore Mozambique, but this was not deemed commercial. 

Tullow said that while provisional interpretation of all drilling and geological data from the Cebus well indicates that there was extensive development of the targeted sands, no indications of hydrocarbons were observed.

The company said the well is now being plugged and abandoned, while the Stena ICEMax (DW drillship) vessel will move on to drill the GM-ES-5 well, which is the final well of a four-well program on the Guyane Maritime license that has followed the Zaedyus-1 oil discovery on the license.

Tullow Exploration Director Angus McCoss commented in a company statement:

"The Cebus-1 well was an ambitious wildcat exploration well which did not encounter hydrocarbons. The current French Guiana campaign now concludes with the GM-ES-5 well. This well will be located on the Cingulata fan with the objective of determining the oil water contact of the Zaedyus-1 discovery by measuring the pressure in the water-leg as well as gathering geological data from deeper un-penetrated sections."

Northern Petroleum, on of Tullow's partners in the license, said in a separate statement that the data from the well and previous wells drilled will be integrated with 3D seismic data.

Northern Petroleum CEO Keith Bush commented:

"This additional information will allow the partnership to further de-risk the prospect portfolio held under licence in the Guyane Maritime permit. I now look forward to the drilling of the GM-ES-5 well and the opportunity that it presents the company and shareholders."

Tullow holds a 27.5-percent stake in the Guyane Maritime permit, which is operated by Royal Dutch Shell plc (45 percent). Northern Petroleum holds an equivalent 1.25 percent stake through a joint venture.

In Mozambique, Tullow reported that its Cachalote-1 exploration well in Area 2 found a gas-bearing reservoir in an Upper Cretaceous deepwater channel system. The well is the first deepwater exploration well drilled in Area 2 and it targeted several geological plays associated with the regionally-important Ibo High. 125 feet of good-quality gas-bearing reservoir sandstones were found in the Upper Cretaceous objective, but Tullow said these are unlikely to be commercial on a standalone basis. Wet gas shows were also encountered in a deeper sidetrack to the well, which McCoss suggested gives "potential for discovery oil in this region".



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