A joint press release from the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL) and African Petroleum (AP) has indicated that there has always been a harmonious and cordial working relationship between the two entities since oil blocks were awarded, adding that they have aligned objectives.
According to the press statement dated 18 January, 2013, African Petroleum officially announced the commencement of the drilling of the Bee Eater - 1 well in Block LVB-09 offshore Liberia with semi-submersible ocean rig, the Eirik Raude, which is meant to test the potential of a westerly extension of the Narina - 1 Turonian oil discovery.
'If the test is successful, the Bee Eater well could demonstrate the presence of a large hydrocarbon reservoir system. A range of possible volumes of oil that could be recovered from this reservoir has been estimated from analysis of regional geological and engineering data. The estimated range is an average volume of 840 MMstb (million stock tank barrels) of oil for the Narina / Bee Eater reservoir system in Block LB-09', the release stated.
The joint statement further revealed that ERC EEquipoise has provided a recent update on the prospective resources for Liberia Blocks LB-08 and LB-09, which is available on the African Petroleum website (www.africanpetroleum.com.au).
NOCAL and African Petroleum jointly clarified that "un-risked prospective resources" shall be be intercepted as possible resources which need to be confirmed by further technical work and additional drilling, and shall not be considered as "proven reserves of oil" ready to be produced as was reported recently in the press.
Only further drilling can demonstrate whether "resources" can move to the "reserve" category and how much commercial quantities will be available for production.
In addition, the release stated that the current drilling campaign is aimed at confirming the nature of the geology and of the reservoir, including its size and quality so that further drilling and technical programmes can be developed. The shape of the programme, the number of possible appraisal wells will be dependent on the outcome of the Bee Eater - 1 well.
In conclusion, both companies would like to reiterate the fact that oil and gas exploration drilling, appraisal, development, production and decommissioning. The cycle from an initial discovery to production typically takes 5 to 7 years.
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Instead of waiting to be spoon-fed, all members of the Liberian Press should visit the African Petroleum's website, download ALL of their Press Release documents, and read them thoroughly. Next, interpret the documents and publish your findings in your own words... Do Not copy-and-paste: http://africanpetroleum.com.au/media-centre/press-releases You should be in a good position to educate the Liberian people about how GLOBAL IRON, LTD became African Petroleum and who their top-20 shareholders where before they changed their name and acquired themselves! It is amazing that this company changed its name and then technically bought itself from itself. I can only describe it as Recursive Re-capitalization but I'll like to know just exactly why did they change their name or change leadership prior to investing in West Africa (not Liberia alone). Come on Liberian journalists, you can do this. If these people are going to be controlling the economic viability of our country, we need to understand their past business practices. It is one of the beauties of Freedom of Information. If I'm not mistaking, the Narina-1 well could hold oil reserves between 3 to 8 billion barrels. Yes, I said 'billion' because I know for a fact that every 1000 million barrels = 1 billion barrels!