SOCO reported that the Mindou Marine 1 exploration well spudded on 5 September 2011 in the Marine XI Block, located in the Congo Basin, offshore the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). The MIM-1 well is the first in a multi-well (two firm, one contingent) drilling programme on the Marine XI/Marine XIV Blocks and is targeting the Toca limestones with the Djeno sandstone prospect as a secondary target, both below the salt layer with a combined unrisked, pre-drill mean prospective recoverable resource estimates of 165 million barrels. The well will be drilled using the semi-submersible drilling rig ENSCO 5003 and is expected to take 35 to 45 days, with a planned depth of approximately 3,400 metres.

The Te Giac Trang Field in Vietnam, which commenced production on 22 August 2011, is ramping up production on schedule, reporting 28,563 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in the most recent 24 hour reporting period. The plan calls for an interim plateau production of approximately 40,000 bopd at which level there will be extensive testing of well capabilities and the various systems of the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO). Plateau production thereafter is projected to be 55,000 BOPD, but plans call for production to be increased beyond that figure to test the total processing capacity of the FPSO by year end.

Tags: Soco International