White Nile sinks first Jonglei well
White Nile sinks first Jonglei well
Barry Morgan
404 words
27 April 2007
Upstream
92
English
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Drilling begins amid controversy over rights to Sudan acreage
AIM-listed White Nile spudded its debut well on Jonglei Block Ba in South Sudan last week amid ongoing controversy over disputed acreage rights with Total and British Virgin Islands-registered Jarch Management Group.
The Kedalai-1 wildcat is being drilled to determine the hydrocarbon-bearing potential of the previously undrilled south-eastern part of the Muglad basin, the company said.
The Romanian land rig transported from Constanta by Tusk Energy Services will drill the well to a total depth of 2400 metres within 29 days.
The well is being drilled 200 kilometres north of Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
White Nile, owned by former England cricketer Phil Edmonds and with equity held by Juba’s fledgling state oil company Nile Petroleum (NilePet), claims to have committed “significant funds to support local projects (and improve) infrastructure”.
A Community Development Plan includes road maintenance, the building of new medical clinics and schools, the supply of satellite communications systems and drilling of water boreholes.
NilePet boss Bullen Bol said NilePet and Edmonds’ African venture, Central African Mining & Exploration, both partner White Nile to varying degrees.
NilePet and Camec together share a 60% equity stake on a 50:50 basis and all parties to the deal are free to take new partners on board, he said.
White Nile has an accord with the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement but not a fully-fledged exploration and production sharing agreement with the Government of South Sudan (GoSS).
The Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement insists the North-South National Petroleum Commission must first ratify oil deals. GoSS vice president Riek Machar Teny has set up the Petroleum Contracting Commission to review all deals and submit them to the National Petroleum Commission early next month.
Wary of Khartoum’s opposition to unilateral exploration initiatives in the south, a private exploration company from China has entered preliminary talks to acquire Block Bc, while a private Malaysian company is angling for Block Dc, just across from the eastern border with Ethiopia, where Petronas is already drilling the Gambella basin.
Petronas, already in a joint venture called Petrodar with the China National Petroleum Company, is also poised to starting drilling Block 7e, located close to Block Dc.