Overview - Africa
The company's additional international operations and new ventures are managed by the International Exploration Team within Dana's head office in the UK. The portfolio includes a variety of projects in North and West Africa.
Guinea
Dana has a 23% interest in a licence located offshore Guinea. This licence, which is Operated by Hyperdynamics, has an area of 25,000 km2, making it one of the largest exploration licences in West Africa. Water depth varies from 100 to 4,000m.
Some 10,000 line km of 2D seismic and 3,625 km2 of 3D seismic were acquired during 2010 and two exploration wells, Sabu-1 and Baraka-1, will be drilled in late 2011 and early 2012 using the Jasper Explorer drillship. These wells will test Upper and Lower Cretaceous aged prospects.
A further 4,000 km2 of 3D seismic will be acquired in late 2011 and early 2012 to pursue a Lower Cretaceous, Jubilee-type, deep water stratigraphic play, similar to that proven by the Mercury discovery in Sierra Leone.
Mauritania and Senegal
Dana has a 36% interest in, and is Operator of, blocks 1 and 7, offshore Mauritania. It also has a 10.7% interest in block 2 (Tullow Operator) and a 30% interest in the St Louis block, offshore Senegal (Tullow Operator). 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 and early 2011. This exploration well both appraised the 2003 Pelican gas discovery and tested objectives at two deeper levels. The well encountered four separate gas columns, two within the Maastrichtian to Campanian Pelican Group, a third within the Santonian (Cormoran prospect) and the fourth at Turonian level (Petronia prospect). The well was still in gas-bearing section when drilling was stopped at 4,695m for operational reasons. A DST of the lower of the two Pelican Group gas columns flowed at stabilised rates of 22 to 24 MMscfpd, this rate being constrained by the need to avoid sand production. Post-well studies are underway.
In blocks 1, 2 and St Louis additional seismic has been or will be acquired in 2011 and early 2012 with a view to maturing prospects to be drilled in late 2012 or 2013.
Morocco
Dana is a partner in the offshore Tanger-Larache exploration licence which covers an area 2727 sq.km in water depths ranging from 20m to 600m.
Extensive 2D and 3D seismic data alongside CSEM acquisition have been acquired. The Anchois gas discovery was made in 2009. Two further wells, Deep Thon-1 and Merou-1, have recently been drilled, the results of which are still being evaluated.