First drilling for oil offshore Accra produces water

The first drilling exercise conducted at a well in the Offshore Accra Contract Area has been very disappointing.

The operators at the area hoped to encounter oil or gas reserves but to their dismay, they found water instead.

According to Ophir Energy, the operator, the Starfish-1 well was drilled in 1490m of water and reached a total depth of 4348m subsea by the Stena DrillMax drillship in the frontier Keta basin, located within the West African Transform Margin play.

Drilling started at the well June 21, 2013, according to officials.

“Wireling logging has confirmed the presence of a gross c. 230m sandstone interval in the primary (Lower Cretaceous) target interval although logs show these to be water wet,” said Ophir July 10, 2013 in a statement. It holds a 20% participating interest.

The company added that “the secondary target (“Orca”) contained poorly developed sands which were also water-bearing.

“Whilst it is disappointing that the first well on this licence has been unsuccessful, our primary reason for farming-in to this acreage was the play potential outboard of the Starfish prospect,” Nick Cooper, CEO of Ophir said.

The company indicated that the well operations have been completed and the rig has now been released.

By Ekow Quandzie