Exploration
Potential in the Northern Portion of the Central African Republic
Grynberg, Jack J.,
Grynberg Petroleum, Greenwood Village, CO
RSM Production
Corporation of Denver, Colorado, USA, has been granted exclusive onshore oil
and gas exploration and production license on November 27, 2000 covering 55,125
square kilometers (13,615,875 acres) in the northeastern portion of the Central
African Republic (CAR) and is presently undergoing an extensive 2-D
geophysical
exploration program using state of the art processing technology and utilizing
the
geophysical
gravity data obtained by RSM. The license area in the CAR
covers parts of the Doba-Doseo-Salamat sub-basins that straddle the border
between CAR and Chad.
The Chadian part of the Doba-Doseo sub-basin immediately across the border from
CAR contains three (3) large world-class oil fields and a number of smaller but
commercial oil fields that may develop into larger fields with additional
drilling which is anticipated. Since the inception of exploratory drilling in Chad
through 1986, a total of 29 exploratory wells were drilled, 10 of which tested
positive for hydrocarbons, mostly oil. Between 1988 and 1996, Exxon, (Esso)
focused its efforts on the Doba Basin and drilled 14 more wells, 11 of which
resulted as potential oil discoveries with a 78.6 % success ratio. Proven
presently recoverable reserves for the Doba Basin
are approximately three (3) billion barrels of recoverable oil.