Statoil trumpets Zafarani gas hit

The Zafarani-1 probe, which is being drilled by the drillship Ocean Rig Poseidon in 2585 metres of water, “encountered indications of natural gas in a good quality reservoir”, the Norwegian state oil company said in a statement on Friday.

It is the first exploration well to be drilled in Block 2, covering 5500 square kilometres, which is operated by Statoil with a 65% working interest with ExxonMobil holding the remaining 35%.

Drilling will continue at the well, spudded in early January, towards a total depth of 5150 metres and is expected to be completed within three months.

Statoil said it was still too early to give any indication on the size of potential resources and commerciality pending further analysis of well data.

East Africa is fast emerging as a prospective gas province, with a new giant discovery by Italian major Eni off Mozambique announced earlier this week following a find last month by US explorer Anadarko Petroleum.

"East Africa will soon become a major gas hub if you look at all the big discoveries made in Mozambique, and the demand side also looks great considering how close India with its rapidly growing demand is," Magnus Smistad, an analyst at Fondsfinans, told Reuters.

"It's a region where Statoil needs to be and its blocks in Mozambique are also very exciting," he added.

Statoil is increasingly targeting frontier areas for exploration in the hunt for so-called “high-impact” discoveries with gross resource potential of more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent.

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