Record Resources has reported that further geological and geophysical evaluation of the Loba oil discovery and nearby analogue fields in Gabon supports renewed appraisal interest in the Ngulu block offshore Central Gabon.
The company says its planned Loba Marine 2 well could potentially flow at more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day, assuming completion with frac-pack and an electric submersible pump. The estimate is partly based on performance from the Batanga reservoir in nearby fields, including Barbier Southwest, which lies close to the Ngulu block. Record also states that the wider Loba field complex could support production of around 20,000 barrels per day under a multi-well development scenario, based on offset-field comparisons.
From a subsurface perspective, the announcement is notable because it links renewed interest in a discovered resource to analogue-field analysis, reservoir correlation and seismic reprocessing. The Loba discovery was originally made by Elf-Gabon with the LOM-1 well in around 60 m of water, targeting the Batanga and Anguille reservoirs. According to Record, the well encountered oil in the Batanga reservoir, with the field complex also including the Loba Deep prospect and the Loba East Batanga prospect around the salt-dome setting.
The company notes that previous estimates assigned mean contingent resources of 11.9 million barrels to the Loba discovery, with additional prospective resources attributed to Loba Deep and Loba East. The first phase of work on the block includes seismic reprocessing and drilling of the first well to total depth.
