Dana Petroleum, has announced the conclusion of drilling operations on the Manatee-1 exploration well in the Bakassi West block in Cameroon.

The well is situated in shallow water in the prolific Niger Delta Basin, offshore Cameroon. It was drilled with the Paragon M825 jack-up rig to a TD of 1,447 meters. The well came across 26 metres of gas bearing section of variable quality all through the wellbore.

According to SDX Energy the wellbore conditions did not allow for the procurement of a full suite of logging tools, thereby making the evaluation of the lower intervals indecisive. The company stated that further technical work will be finalized with the samples and material gathered from the well.

“Whilst we are disappointed not to have made an oil discovery, we recognized the risks associated with exploration wells of this kind. The secondary objective was to see whether we could make a commercially viable gas discovery. At this stage it is too early to quantify the Manateee-1 gas potential and our technical team will be working closely with our partners to evaluate the well results to determine if the gas volumes on the block have commercial potential,” Paul Welch (photo), SDX Energy CEO told Engineering news.

He said that the Block contains additional 12 prospects and leads which have been de-risked by the Manatee-1 well results, adding that the information acquired from the well will be used to expand their understanding of the Bakassi West Block so as to negotiate the next step with partners and the relevant authorities.

Anita Fatunji