The Gazelle oil and gas field is located in Block CI-202, approximately 30km south-east of Abidjan, at water depths ranging between 30m and 50m in the offshore Ivorian Basin.
The field is owned and operated by Vioco Petroleum (formerly Railto), which holds an 87% working interest, while the remaining 13% share in the field is held by state-owned oil company Petroci. The latter has an option to acquire an additional 16% paying interest in the field.
The initial field development plan (FDP) for the project was approved in December 2011 and the revised FDP was approved in October 2014. The final investment decision (FID) is expected in 2015 and first production is anticipated in 2016.
“The final investment decision is expected in 2015 and first production is anticipated in 2016.”
The overall investment for developing phase one of the field development project is estimated to be $200m, $20m of which was provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2012 and $50m is being provided by Vitol as a development loan. The remaining amount will be funded by a syndicate of banks.
Discovery, reserves and geology of Gazelle oil and gas field
The Ivorian offshore field was discovered by Esso (Shell) in 1977, with the drilling of the IVCO-12 discovery well. The IVCO-21 and IVCO 14 wells were further drilled by Esso, while the Gazelle-1 and Gazelle-2 wells were drilled by Petroci and United Meridian International Corporation (UMIC) respectively.
The field was further appraised by drilling the Gazelle-P3 ST1, Gazelle-P3 ST2 and Gazelle-P4 appraisal wells in 2012 deploying the Transocean GFS Monitor jack-up rig.
A 3D survey over the field area was completed in 1995 by UMIC and an extended 3D survey covering the entire block was completed in 2012.
The field is estimated to hold 2C contingent reserves of 92bn cubic feet of gas and 1.8m barrels of oil. Hydrocarbons at the field are located in the lower and upper Cenomanian-age sands and sandstones.