UK based oil and gas company Bowleven has started drilling operations at the the Zingana exploration well on the Bomono Permit in Cameroon.
The well is the first of the two planned as part of the company’s exploration programme this year.
Drilling for the well will be done to a target depth of about 2,000m. Located 20km to the north west of Douala, the well will have a Paleocene (Tertiary) aged threeway dip closed fault block as target. The block was partially penetrated during the shallow wells drillings done in the 1950s.
The second well is located more than two kilometres to the east of Zingana at Moambe.
Bowleven is preparing the site for future drilling operations.
The firm intends to mobilise the rig to Moambe following the completion of drilling and logging operations at Zingana.
Tesing at the both the sites are likely to be carried out after the drilling and logging.
Specific mechanical and control issues with the rig fabric and equipment were identified during the rig-up, Bowleven said.
Those had to be addressed before commencing the drilling operations, and were the reason behind the delays.
Bowleven is continuing with technical and commercial work at the site as well, in order to assess potential development concepts and product offtakers, anticipating exploration success.