Print this pageThe Amenam Field Discovery: An 'In-Depth' Look at Exploration in the Offshore Niger Delta
IKELIONWU, E., J. DURAND, G. MAGNIEN, P. MATHERON, and R. N. CHUKWU
The Eastern Offshore province of the Niger Delta margin hosts some of the most significant recent discoveries in Nigeria. The AMENAM discovery made by Elf Nigeria in 1990 stands as a breakthrough in the Niger delta exploration concepts. This oil field is mainly situated in OML 99, operated by Elf, on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation-EPN Joint Venture. It extends slightly southwestwards into the Mobil-operated OML 70. A total of six wells have been drilled to date within the field.
Depths over 3500 m were often regarded as a barrier for exploration, in terms of fluid type, overpressure and reservoir occurrence. Apart from substantial reserves, this discovery proved the existence of deep undiscovered deltaic series, and a new play concept in the Niger Delta margin.
The oil-bearing reservoirs within the Amenam structure range in depth from 3500 m to 4900 m subsea, and occur along a shale ridge-growth fault complex.
The geological model built from well and seismic data is largely based on a sequence stratigraphy framework and on sedimentological studies. This new deep exploration concept may be extrapolated to other parts of the Niger Delta.