African Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Perth, has secured the Ocean Rig UDW Eirik Raude deepwater fifth generation semisubmersible to start a two-well drilling program off West African in the third or fourth quarter of 2012.
The rig will continue African Petroleum’s drilling program on blocks 8 and 9 off Liberia. The company holds other blocks off West Africa, and the contract contains an option for a third well.
African Petroleum discovered oil in formations of Turnonian and Albian age at its Narina -1 discovery on Block 9 earlier this year (OGJ Online, Feb. 21, 2012).
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.
