In light of our sub salt and pre-salt focus, in addition to the Gulf of Mexico, we are actively pursuing opportunities in West Africa's deepwater offshore basins where billions of barrels of crude await discovery. Deepwater exploration, development and production successes in West Africa are leading the industry in the pace of discoveries, development and transition into production.
Deepwater West African Play Model
We have made a significant investment in developing an in-depth understanding of deepwater pre-salt basins offshore Angola and Gabon, including the acquisition and reprocessing of existing seismic data.
Analysis of seismic data and high-risk plays has been ongoing for over a year now by a team of highly specialized Cobalt experts.
In February 2008, Cobalt acquired a 21.25% working interest in the Diaba license offshore Gabon. Total Gabon is the operator of the Diaba license. The license covers an area of 9, 075 square kilometers and is located approximately 50 kilometres offshore southern Gabon in water depths ranging from 100 to 2500 metres.
The Diaba license provides tremendous potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons in the pre-salt basin offshore Gabon. Cobalt has established an extensive regional geophysical data set covering offshore Gabon. In this regard, Cobalt will support Total Gabon as operator in the execution of the work program for the Diaba license.
The license partners are Total Gabon with a 63.75% interest, Cobalt with a 21.25% interest, and the Gabonese Republic with a 15% interest. The Exploration and Production Sharing Contract defines the exploration program into three phases. The first phase, lasting three-and-a-half years, consists of a commitment to shoot 2,000 square kilometres of 2D seismic. The second phase, also lasting three-and-a-half years, comprises a commitment to shoot 700 square kilometers of 3D seismic, while the third phase, lasting three years, includes an obligation to drill a well.
Cobalt West Africa License Position
Building on our Diaba license participation, we plan to continue leveraging the skills and competencies of the Cobalt’s team’s experience in this part of the world, to identify and pursue a number of further potential opportunities in West Africa's prolific offshore.
