No Block 1 Oilfields Were Indicated On Original Afren/ECL Map; Upstream Says JDA Expects All 5 Blocks To Be Signed March 14

CORRECTION: An I-Hub poster named CobraJet provided this retouched map of the Joint Development Zone from a November 5 Afren corporate presentation, and the original (see Page 16) we saw tonight does include all of the crosshatched and other indicated oil prospects.
Joe Shea/The American Reporter

Afren hired consulting firm ECL to evaluate the field. These were ECL's conclusions:

Conclusions
1. It is ECL’s opinion that Block 1 has good exploration prospects that are analogous
similar prospects that have been successfully drilled in the Deep Water Niger Delta Petroleum Province.
2. ECL assesses the geological chance of success at 56% or better for some Block
structural prospects.
3. In the success case, ECL considers that Block 1 could host “giant” field reserves but there is a wide range of uncertainty on prospective resources for any particular prospect.

Meanwhile, UpstreamOnline has issued an update on PSCs, saying the JDA expects to ratify all five blocks on March 14.

The update notes, also, that there has been no announcement of a find by Chevron and that its OBO-1 well has reached total depth (TD).

The article says an announcement on the well's success or lack of it could be made in April:

UPSTREAM UPDATE PSCs still set for the 14th
Wait on Obo wildcat

By Upstream staff

Chevron this week reached target depth on its Obo-1 wildcat in the Joint Development Zone (JDZ) managed by Nigeria and Sao Tome&Principe, writes Barry Morgan.
Logging by Transocean drillship Deepwater Discovery started on Tuesday amid ongoing speculation of a discovery, which many view as a litmus test of oil potential in the Gulf of Guinea deep water.

However, no announcement on the well's findings is expected until April.

Partners anticipate an agreed statement will emerge after a technical committee meeting scheduled later this month. Chevron operates Block-1 and is partnered by ExxonMobil and an alliance of Dangote-Energy Equity Resources-Afren.

The Abuja-based Joint Development Authority reiterated its intent to formally ratify the remaining JDZ blocks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on 14 March.

10 March 2006 00:01 GMT | last updated: 10 March 2006 00:01 GMT"