Exploration and production (E&P) company BW Energy has discovered substantial oil at the Bourdon prospect within the Dussafu Licence offshore Gabon.

The second sidetrack DBM-1 ST2 well has revealed promising results, with management estimating 56 million barrels (mbbl) of oil in place, of which around 25mbbl are considered recoverable.

The initial data indicates that the oil from the Bourdon field has the lowest viscosity among the Dussafu discoveries, averaging 3.5 centipoise (cp).

This compares favourably with the 5cp and 7cp viscosities measured for the Hibiscus/Tortue and Ruche fields, respectively.

Further evaluation of logging data and formation pressure measurements has confirmed approximately 11.2m of pay within an overall hydrocarbon column measuring 35.2m in the Gamba formation.

The well, drilled by the Norve jack-up rig, reached a total depth of 4,731m.

BW Energy CEO Carl K. Arnet said: “The appraisal well confirms the potential for establishing a new development cluster with a production facility following the MaBoMo blueprint. We expect at least four producing wells.

“We continue to successfully expand the Dussafu reserve base which, together with multiple additional prospects yet to be drilled, will support long-term production and value-creation in Gabon.”   

Strategically located around 15km west of the floating production storage and offloading unit BW Adolo and 7.5km south-east of the MaBoMo facility, the Bourdon discovery is set to enable BW Energy to book additional reserves not included in its 2024 Statement of Reserves.

In addition to the developments in Gabon, BW Energy has reached a final investment decision for the Golfinho Boost project in Brazil.

The company plans to invest $107m to enhance production efficiency at the Golfinho field offshore Brazil and increase oil output by approximately 3,000 barrels per day, starting from 2027.