Oil India begins drilling in Gabon onshore field

Oil India Ltd today said it has started drilling operations at the 'Shakthi' block in the African state of Gabon, granted to OIL and its partners for hydrocarbon exploration.

The beginning of drilling on the first well in Gabon by the Indian explorer was done on Sunday in the presence of senior officials of OIL and Punj Lloyd Upstream Ltd, which has the contract for rig service, OIL said in a release.

The onshore block in Shakthi was obtained from the Gabon government in April 2006 in a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (45 per cent) and Marvis (10 per cent), with Singapore Oil as the operator holding 45 per cent.

As a part of exploration activities, aeromagnetic and seismic surveys (2D and 3D) were carried out and two locations were released for drilling in the Shakthi Block in December 2011 by Gabon on the west coast of Central Africa, the release said.

Both the wells are vertical wells inside deep forest, one at a depth of 3,460 m and the other at a depth of 3,200 m respectively, with the first well considered to be one of the world's deepest onshore wells.

Despite the logistic challenges of an area lacking infrastructure, with heavy rainfall, a different language (French) and a very tight timeline, OIL has achieved the planned activities very efficiently, the release added.