Kosmos discovers oil in offshore Equatorial Guinea

According to the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons, the S-5 well was drilled at a total depth of 4,400 meters. The drill discovered 39 meters of net oil in the Santonian reservoir, in the offshore Rio Muni Basin.

The Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said they are happy about the discovery.

“We are very excited about the results of the S-5 well, the first well drilled in this ongoing exploration campaign. The discovery is a strong validation of our strategy to replace oil reserves by exploring the highly prospective oil basins like Rio Muni.”

“We are eager to establish more oil prospects in offshore Equatorial Guinea. This is good for more jobs and opportunities for our citizens and investors,” he added.

The discovery is the first well drilled in an infrastructure-led exploration (ILX) by Kosmos in offshore Equatorial Guinea.

The drilling of the S-5 well happened after the 3D seismic acquired in 2018. The partners in the S-5 well include GEPetrol (20%), Trident Energy (40%) and Kosmos (40%).

In a related development, Kosmos and other stakeholders are conducting further evaluation work to determine the full extent of the discovered resource and develop a schedule of the development phase.

Equatorial Guinea discovered its first significant off shore oil in 1995. Since then oil has become the country’s most important export. As of 2005, according to World Oil, Equatorial Guinea's proven oil reserves were put at 1.28 billion barrels.