Oranto seeks seismic acquisition services

Nigerian firm Oranto is seeking seismic acquisition services for its Ngassa area block of Lake Albert. The Nigerian advertised for bids in the media for 328 line kilometres of high resolution offshore seismic.

Oranto Petroleum Limited was issued an exploration license in October last year for the Ngassa Shallow Play and Ngassa Deep Play areas in the block. It was one of two new companies to be issued licenses, Australia's Armour Energy Limited being the other.

Companies interested in undertaking the seismic have up to August 7th, to bid for the job. Any company not listed on the National Supplier Database will not qualify for the job.

The seismic will provide a more accurate picture of the oil potential, in a complicated block, that has oil resource both in the lake and out of it.

The development means that Oranto is moving a step closer to drilling its first oil well—which many experts believe will be by the end of 2019. Due to the unique features of this block, challenges are anticipated in the drilling of wells.

While Oranto gets ready to start seismic studies on its block, Total E&P and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are awaiting Final Investment Decisions (FID) to start works on their two projects.

Located on the northern side of the Lake Albert, Total E&P will operate the Tilenga upstream project which will lead production with an estimated 190,000 barrels per day when oil production starts.

Further down the lake, CNOOC will operate the Kingfisher project that will deliver 35,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil per day when production starts.

The Ngassa block is immediately north of the CNOOC operated Kingfisher field, which is accessed in part through the Kaiso-Tonya oil road. For this reason, Oranto wants a company that is familiar with the Kaiso-Tonya terrain.