ReconAfrica CEO Brian Reinsborough says the company’s operations teams and contractors are completing the camp before the start of drilling in the Damara Fold Play on PEL 73 this month.
The move of the working camp and the drilling rig from the Wisdom Farm 5-1 location is wrapping up, with everything expected to be operational on the Naingopo well site towards the end of the month.
The well is scheduled to begin drilling this month and targets 163 million barrels of unrisked prospective oil resources or 843 billion cubic feet of unrisked prospective natural gas resources.
This is based on the most recent prospective resources report from Netherlands, Sewell & Associates, Inc., dated March 12, 2024.
Reinsborough said the rig will move into the area where ReconAfrica wants to drill the Naingopo well.
According to Reinsborough, the company has drilled the conductor hole and will continue to track for a spud toward the end of the month.
“The well is expected to take 90 days to drill, targeting multiple reservoir intervals in the highly prospective Damara Fold Belt,” Reinsborough said.
He added that the Jarvie-1 drilling rig has undergone all its maintenance and certification processes, and no significant issues have been noted.
“It has been rigged down and is moving approximately 80 kilometres to the Naingopo location,” he said.
ReconAfrica senior vice president for exploration Chris Sembritzky said there is tremendous excitement about the upcoming spud of the Naingopo exploration well, which will be the first well to test the Damara Fold Belt.
“The thorough petroleum systems work that our team has conducted over the last six months gives us increased confidence in finding hydrocarbons in our first well.
“In the event of success, we have substantial running room with an additional four prospects and 20 leads that have been mapped and defined,” Sembritzky said.
The senior vice president for drilling and completion, Nick Steinsberger, said the operations team is excited to finalize the preparations to spud the upcoming Naingopo exploration well.
“All the drilling crews are in place, including Namibian nationals and expats, most of whom have worked on the Jarvie-1 before, ensuring operational continuity.
“All the equipment and services needed to drill the well are onsite or scheduled to arrive in the next two weeks,” Steinsberger said.
