• Murphy Oil plans a second exploration well on offshore block CI-502 after inconclusive results from Civette-1X.

• The company will drill the Caracal prospect as part of a three-well exploration program operated with a 90% stake.

• Murphy confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system despite non-commercial hydrocarbon volumes.

Murphy Oil Corporation plans to resume exploration drilling after Civette-1X, the first well in its offshore CI-502 campaign, delivered non-commercial results. The U.S. oil company now prepares a second exploration well as part of its ongoing prospecting strategy.

The company disclosed the information in its quarterly report to shareholders published on January 28. Murphy Oil plans to drill the Caracal well and will relocate the drilling rig from the Civette-1X site to the new location.

However, Murphy Oil has not communicated a drilling start date. The company has also not released details on the target depth or the expected duration of drilling operations.

Murphy Oil conducts the offshore Côte d’Ivoire exploration campaign under a three-well program on block CI-502. The company operates the block with a 90% working interest in partnership with Petroci, Côte d’Ivoire’s state-owned oil company, which holds the remaining 10%.

The Civette-1X well reached a total depth of 13,950 feet (4,252 meters). Although the company did not consider the hydrocarbon volumes sufficient for commercial development, Murphy Oil confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system in the area in a statement published on January 19.

In its report, Murphy Oil identified the Bubale prospect as the third target in its CI-502 drilling campaign. Until the company signed an energy agreement on January 22 covering an offshore area of interest off Morocco’s Atlantic coast, the CI-502 block represented Murphy Oil’s only asset in Africa.

This article was initially published in French by Abdel-Latif Boureima

Edited in English by Ange J.A de BERRY QUENUM