Our portfolio of projects in North and West Africa are managed by our International Exploration and New Ventures teams from our headquarters in Aberdeen, UK. Our interests are in Mauritania, Guinea and Morocco.
Mauritania
We have a 36% interest in, and operate blocks 1 and 7, offshore Mauritania. We also have a 10.7% interest in block 2, operated by Tullow Oil. To date, six wells have been drilled in these blocks, four of which discovered hydrocarbons.
The most recent of these wells was Cormoran-1, which was drilled in late 2010. This exploration well both appraised the 2003 Pelican gas discovery and proved the presence of hydrocarbons at two deeper levels.
In blocks 1 and 2, seismic data is being interpreted with a view to maturing prospects to be drilled in 2013 or 2014.
Guinea
We have a 23% interest in a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) located offshore Guinea. Operated by Hyperdynamics, the PSC has an area of 25,000 km2, making it one of the largest exploration licences in West Africa. Water depth varies from 100m to 4,000m.
Morocco
We are a co-venturer in the Tanger Larache reconnaissance licence, offshore Morocco, which covers an area 2,744 km2 in water depths ranging from 20m to 600m. Co-venturers are Repsol and GasNatural.
Cameroon
We are the operator of a production sharing contract for the Bakassi West block in the Rio Del Rey Basin in South West Cameroon. With a 55% interest we are working in partnership with Madison Cameroon Oil and Gas Limited (35%) and SoftRock Oil and Gas Limited (10%). We will conduct a seismic acquisition programme in 2013 and 2014, and expect to drill our first well by 2015.