Ghana: Ophir Energy to operate Starfish exploratory well

Ophir Energy PLC has taken a farmout on the Offshore Accra Contract Area offshore Ghana and will operate the Starfish-1 deepwater exploratory well recommended for drilling in 2013.

The well will target what one of the participants calls a large, deepwater, Jubilee look-a-like trap with a midrange estimated prospective resource of 431 million bbl of oil and a mean of 665 million bbl.

Ophir will operate for the new contractor group with a 20% participating interest. Afex Oil (Ghana) Ltd. has 20%, Vitol Upstream (Accra) Ltd. 30%, Tap Oil Ltd. 17.5%, and Rialto Energy (Ghana) Ltd. 12.5% conditional on providing a bank guarantee. Challenger Minerals (Ghana) Ltd. has exited the contractor group.