The Ebony-1 exploration well offshore Ghana in the Tano Shallow licence was spudded October 22 and will be drilled by Seadrill's West Ceres jack-up rig.

The Ebony-1 well will target the turbiditic sandstones of Upper Cretaceous age. The well is located 30 km from shore in 87 m of water and will be drilled vertically down to a total depth of 2800 m sub-sea. The drilling and potential testing of the well is estimated to take approximately one month and the total investment including testing is budgeted to be USD 33 million.

The Ebony prospect, composed of stacked submarine fans, is a similar type of play as the recent major discoveries, Jubilee and Odum made by Tullow and Kosmos in the West Cape Three Point Block and Deepwater Tano Block to the South and Southeast of the Ebony prospect.

InterOil has a 31.5% working interest in the Tano Shallow licence, where Tullow Oil is the operator with an interest of 31.5% as well. The remaining Joint Venture partners include Thani Ghana (22.5%), Sabre Oil (4.5%) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) with 10% carried interest.

Tags: Tullow Oil plc