Canadian Oil firm, COPL has acquired 80% of the share capital of Essar Exploration and Production (Nigeria).
Essar Nigeria’s sole asset is a 100% operated interest in OPL 226, 50 km (31 mi) offshore in the central area of the Niger Delta.
Assuming approval from Nigeria’s government, COPL subsidiary ShoreCan will take over management of Essar Nigeria.
Recently Essar gained an extension to the first phase of the PSC to Dec. 31, 2017. The remaining commitment on this phase is to drill one well. COPL has identified a drilling location, which will be an offset to an oil discovery made in 2001 by a previous concession holder.
OPL 226 spans 1,530 sq km (591 sq mi) in water depths of 40-180 m (131-590 ft), with near-term oil production potential and exploration upside.
Five wells have been drilled, of which the last proved oil after earlier drilling intersected largely gas-bearing sands.
The block is located along a large fault-controlled structural complex. To date 1,750 km (1,087 mi) of 2D seismic and around 1,300 sq km (502 sq mi) of 3D seismic have been acquired. In addition, ShoreCan has completed additional seismic processing to the most recent 3D survey acquired by Essar in 2012.
ShoreCan applied advanced seismic processing techniques to differentiate oil-bearing sands from gas and water-bearing sands.
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