Afren starts drilling off the Ghana coast in the hope of finding more oil
OIL and gas company Afren yesterday announced that it had started drilling off the coast of Ghana.
Afren said that drilling began at the Keta block with Eni Ghana.
Afren and Eni – Italy’s largest energy company – each have 35 per cent stakes in the block.
Japanese conglomerate Mitsui and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation own interests worth 20 and 10 per cent, respectively.
The drilling is taking place at the Volta River Basin near Eastern Ghana.
Afren chief exec Omar Shahenshah (pictured) said: “The company is now firmly engaged in its most active phase of exploration activity across its core assets which are said to have the potential to materially increase the company’s discovered reserves base.”
Yesterday’s announcement follows January’s discovery at the Okoro East exploration well.
In addition to its African operations Afren has recently embarked on projects in Kurdistan.
Last month Afren posted 2011 production figures and output forecasts for this year that missed analyst expectations. Problems at the company’s key Ebok oil field in Nigeria was part of the reason for the bleaker figures, the firm said.