ACCRA, Ghana, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Oil trader Vitol announced Wednesday along with its partners in Ghana the discovery of oil and gas reserves in the offshore Jubilee field.
The upstream subsidiary of Vitol and the Ghana National Petroleum Corp. encountered a hydrocarbon column of 119.1 feet made up of a 108.6 feet of gas column and 10.5 feet of oil in reservoir sands at the Sankofa-1A well drilled in its Cape Three Points block.
Vitol said this success confirms the prospects of the reservoir sands in the Tano/Cape Three Point Basin blocks offshore western Ghana at the Jubilee field.
The Vitol block in the region covers an area of 803 square miles in water depths ranging from 164 feet to 4,593 feet. It is the first exploration well drilling in the first phase of a seven-year exploration period outlined by the government of Ghana and GNPC in 2006.
Ghana is looking for experts to develop its offshore potential, as the newly elected government has little experience in managing its oil reserves. The Jubilee field is one of the richest oil fields in Africa with potential reserves eclipsing 1.8 billion barrels.
Vitol holds a 90 percent stake in the exploration well, with GNPC holding the remaining 10 percent.
