Industry sources indicated that Shell Petroleum Dev. Co of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) made a major gas and condensate discovery with its deeper-pool wildcat Epu 05 in OML 28, originally named Epu Deep 1X. Although the exact discovered reserves are still under evaluation, it is understood that the well reportedly encountered more than 1.5 Tcf of non-associated gas and 40 MMbbl of condensate in 17 reservoir intervals representing a 250 m net pay.  Epu 5 was considered high-impact well as SPDC targeted deeper and high-pressure gas horizons in the tract. The well was spudded on 25 February 2018 with the HP/HT âHilong-27â land rig, it reached a TD around 5,000 m by mid-July, and it was completed during August.   The exploration drilling in OML 28 was put on hold since early 2016, when deeper pool wildcats Kaiama Deep 1X and Zarama Deep 1X were planned but put on hold. Epu 5 is the fourth deeper-pool wildcat drilled in the past years by SPDC in OML 28, all targeting high-pressure gas plays (Gbaran Deep West 1X in 2014, Gbaran Deep East 1XST1 in 2015, Kolo Creek 41ST1 in early 2016 and Epu 5 in 2018). There is high potential for a fast track development due to the existing neighboring infrastructure. The onshore license is located in the central Niger Delta and includes a number of oil fields (Kolo Creek, Zarama, Epu and Gbaran) and some gas and condensate fields (Abasare and Koroama).    Participants in OML 28 are Shell, operator with 30% interests, Nigerian National Petroleum Co. with 55%, Total E&P Nigeria Ltd with 10% and Nigeria Agip with 5%.
Nigeria (Girardot Sub-basin (Upper Magdalena B.)) Delta