Onshore Niger Well Hits Oil

British independent oil and gas company Savannah Petroleum plc announced Monday that an oil discovery has been made at the Bushiya-1 exploration well, located onshore south east Niger.

Preliminary results indicate that the well has encountered an estimated 33 feet of net oil bearing reservoir sandstones across two intervals in the primary Eocene Sokor Alternances objective, according to Savannah Petroleum. The company said wireline logs indicate the reservoir properties in both sections to be of “excellent quality”.

Bushiya-1 is currently being suspended for future re-entry. The well was drilled by Rig GW 215 to a total measured depth of 7,217 feet, taking a total of 16 days to reach target depth. Rig GW215 will now move to the Amdigh well site, located four miles from Bushiya, where it will prepare to spud the Amdigh-1 exploration well.

“The development of the oil and gas industry in the Agadem Rift Basin is expected to be transformative for both the Diffa region and Niger as whole and is a national priority for our country. We are therefore delighted that the Bushiya-1 well has discovered oil, and we welcome Savannah as an oil resource holder in our country,” Foumakoye Gado, Niger minister of energy and petroleum, said in a government statement.

“We look forward to working closely with Savannah and other stakeholders to assist in the commercialization of Bushiya and any other additional discoveries made by the company over the course of the coming years. We hope and expect Bushiya-1 to be the first of many drilling successes for Savannah in Niger,” Gado added.

Steve Jenkins, chairman of Savannah Petroleum, said the discovery of oil at Bushiya-1 was a “significant milestone” for Savannah.

“I believe the well has demonstrated all of the necessary ingredients for repeatable exploration success to exist in the R3 Area and look forward with encouragement to the remaining wells in our initial campaign, being Amdigh-1 and Kunama-1,” Jenkins said in a company statement.

Andrew Knott, CEO of Savannah Petroleum, said the discovery marked an “encouraging start” for the company’s multi-well drilling campaign in Niger.