French oil group, Total, has announced the detection of oil in the deep water off the coast of Cote d’Ivoire.
Total’s Senior Vice President, Exploration, Marc Blaizot, made the announcement in a statement made available to newsmen in Abidjan on Friday.
He said that Total’s Sapphire-1XB exploration well on Block CI-514 proved the existence of liquid hydrocarbons in deep water around the San Pedro Area.
“This is the first oil discovery within the San Pedro exploration frontier; we will now evaluate this promising result and focus on the extension of the prospect to the north and the east.
“The data acquired during drilling are being analysed and will be used to determine the area’s potential and in designing the delineation programme,’’ Blaizot said.
The official said that Total would continue intense exploration in the area with the drilling of two additional wells on blocks CI-515 and CI-516 before the end of 2014.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that apart from Block CI-514, Total is also interested in three other ultra-deep water exploration licences such as CI-100, CI-515 and CI-516.
