Panoro Energy reported drilling results in the Hibiscus Updip well (DHIBM-1), located on Dussafu Marin Permit, offshore Gabon, “have significantly exceeded expectations” the company's CEO John Hamilton said.

Panoro and operator BW Energy estimate the gross recoverable resources discovered to be in the range of 40 to 50 million barrels of oil.

The DHIMB-1 well was initially drilled in 116 meters of water to a vertical depth of 3,538 meters. On August 30, 2019, Panoro announced an oil discovery in the pre-salt Gamba reservoir with plans to drill a sidetrack to appraise the extent of the Hibiscus Updip discovery.

The Hibiscus Updip oil discovery has been appraised by drilling a sidetrack (DHIBM-1ST1) to the northwest to test the lateral extent and structural elevation of the Gamba reservoir. The sidetrack was drilled to a total depth (TD) of 3,500 meters, (3,049 meters true vertical depth subsea (TVDSS)) approximately 1.1 kilometer from the original wellbore and found a 33 meter oil column with 26 meters of oil pay in the Gamba reservoir with better reservoir character and a similar fluid level to that encountered in the vertical well, DHIBM-1.

“Both the original wellbore and sidetrack have encountered oil columns with excellent reservoir properties,” Hamilton said.

“Our phase 3 development plans to tie the nearby Ruche and Ruche NE fields back to the Adolo FPSO are now being expanded to include a possible fast-track development of the discovery.

“Additionally, this successful well enables us to further de-risk Gamba prospectivity in the Hibiscus area where we see significant additional potential.

“We are extremely pleased with the continued drilling success at Dussafu, and now look forward to the commencement of the production drilling phase at Tortue”.

Panoro  said the well will now be plugged and abandoned pending future appraisal and development activities. The rig will then move to drill the first of four new oil production wells at the Tortue field.