Agoco Strikes Oil In Sirte Basin, Expects Total Output To Rise
Libya’s NOC announced on 3 August that its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco), has made a new oil discovery in the Slouq Depression, around 25km northeast of the Zueitina oil terminal, in the OPEC country’s prolific Sirte Basin. The D1-NC129 wildcat well was drilled to a depth of 8,500ft, and initial production tests from the Paleocene Dolomite Rock formation flowed crude oil with an API gravity of 46°, at a rate of 2,780 b/d through a 0.5in choke. A source at Agoco confirmed to MEES that the company is currently producing more than 400,000 b/d of oil, making the NOC subsidiary Libya’s largest oil producer by volume. The same source said that the company has made a number of important discoveries, which it will bring into production, although he added that the new production would not be seen before the end of this year. The latest announcement follows a large discovery by Agoco in March 2007 on Block NC-4 in the Ghadames Basin (MEES, 19 March 2007). Most of the company’s production comes from the Sarir, Nafoora and Messla fields, which are all in the Sirte Basin. BP discovered Sarir in 1961, but left after its assets were nationalized.
Copyright MEES 2008.
