Reconnaissance discovers petroleum system in Kavango basin, Namibia

Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (ReconAfrica) discovered a working conventional petroleum system in Kavango basin, northeast Namibia, based on data from the 6-2 well, the first of a three-well drilling program (OGJ Online, Feb. 17, 2020).

Well 6-2’s sample log shows over 200 m of oil and natural gas indicators or shows over three discrete intervals in a stacked sequence of reservoir and source rock. Extraction of oil from these samples and subsequent fingerprinting for key characteristics of the liquids supports an active petroleum system with multiple source intervals.

The shows are “indicative of migrated, thermogenic petroleum and occur over three different intervals” in the test well, said Dan Jarvie, petroleum systems chemist and member of ReconAfrica’s advisory board in a statement.

“The intervals penetrated include highly porous, permeable sediments and marine source rocks as predicted, and an extensive marine carbonate lithofacies. Mud gas results indicate a high BTU gas with the presence of light oil in numerous cutting samples. Based on these initial results, the components and processes for a working petroleum system are all present,” he said.

With drilling, coring, and logging operations now complete, the rig is being moved to the 6-1 site 16 km north to evaluate the discovered systems in an area of maximum thickness.

ReconAfrica holds a 90% working interest in petroleum licenses in northeast Namibia comprising 6.3 million contiguous acres.