Nigeria: Erin Energy spuds Oyo North West prospect

Erin Energy has started drilling of the Oyo North West well (Oyo-NW) offshore Nigeria with plans to tie the potential discovery to the Oyo field facilities. 

Oyo-NW is a high-impact exploration well being drilled with the Pacific Bora, a sixth-generation drilling rig, on the company’s offshore block 120. The well is expected to take approximately 60 days to drill and log, Erin Energy said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We are extremely pleased to have commenced drilling of the Oyo North West Prospect,” said Femi Ayoade, Chief Executive Officer. “Our team has worked hard to mature our extensive portfolio of prospects and we look forward to positive results from this campaign. A discovery in the Miocene formation would be a significant step forward in the evolution of our company.”

The Oyo-NW is one of Erin Energy’s multiple drill-ready Miocene prospects and will target mean resources of 1.1 billion barrels. According to Erin Energy, the blocks 120 and 121 are located near many of the region’s “super-fields” in the prolific-producing Niger Delta.

Miocene and Pliocene sandstone reservoirs are proven across the blocks and within the region, providing the reservoir with numerous large-fields and discoveries. Detailed mapping of Erin Energy’s prospect portfolio is based on interpretation of modern 3-D seismic data the company has acquired on the blocks.

Erin Energy also stated that upon a successful discovery, given the close proximity to its current floating production and offloading facilities located on the producing Oyo field, the company would plan to eventually complete the well as a producer with production tie-back to the Oyo field facilities.

The Oyo field is producing through the Bumi Armada-owned Armada Perdana FPSO.