Afren plc (ticker: AFR) is an independent upstream oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Afren is currently producing from its assets offshore Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire and holds further interests in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo Brazzaville, the Joint Development Zone of Nigeria -São Tomé & Príncipe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Seychelles, Tanzania and South Africa.
On November 19, 2013, announced its Ogo-1 well in the OPL 310 block outperformed initial hydrocarbon estimates by 283% in a drilling and resources update. The Ogo-1 well, a four-way dip-closed structure, was drilled to a total measured depth (TD) of 10,518 feet (10,402 ft. of vertical depth) and encountered a gross hydrocarbon section of 524 ft. with 216 of net stacked pay. The Ogo-1 side track reached a TD of 17,987 ft. (12,050 ft. of vertical depth) and found similar results, and the syn-rift section encountered a 280 ft. true vertical thickness gross hydrocarbon interval.
P50 recoverable resources are revised to 774 MMBOE, a 283% increase from initial P50 estimates of 202 MMBOE. P10 gross recoverable resources are raised to 1,190 MMBOE. The syn-rift side is expected to provide additional resources of light oil or a condensate rich gas. In AFR’s half year report, Netherland, Sewell & Associates evaluated gross P50 resources on the entire OPL 310 block at 476 MMBOE.
Afren currently has a 40% working interest (WI) in the block and its two partners, Lekoil (ticker: LEK) and Optimum Petroleum, each hold a 30% WI. Nigeria-based Optimum is the operator while AFR provides technical assistance. The Ogo targeted resources in the Turonian to Albian sandstone, and pre-drill evaluations identified several prospects lying in the same Turonian, Cenomanian and Albian sandstone intervals that have yielded significant discoveries in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
The Partners announced Oyo-1 drilling operations will be suspended to secure the well. Future plans include drilling an appraisal well in H2’14 and increase its 3D coverage to further define the prospects. Current 3D evaluations cover just 25% of OPL 310.
In Afren’s 1H’13 conference call, management said its offshore operations have not been affected by recent turmoil in Nigeria. Rather, onshore locations are more susceptible to attacks due to accessibility. Other areas, such as swamps, creeks and offshore rigs, are less at risk due to its surroundings.
The recent discovery continues AFR’s exploration success rate after reserves were found in its Ebok North Fault, the Okoro East Extension in Nigeria and the Simrit-2 and Simrit-3 exploration wells in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Two producers were tied into the Ebok North Fault and contributed 5 MBOPD to AFR’s gross 1H’13 regional production rate of 34 MBOPD. The Okoro produced 18 MBOPD gross in the same period and the East Extension is being completed. The Simrit-2 revealed aggregate flow rates of 19 MBOPD, while the Simrit-3 has yet to be completed.
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