Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. is pleased to announce initiation of the 450km 2D seismic program and a comprehensive community water well drilling campaign in the Kavango basin of NE Namibia.
Seismic Program
This 450km 2D seismic program is the first seismic acquisition project to ever be conducted in the Kavango Basin. With the success of the first two recently drilled stratigraphic wells confirming an active conventional petroleum system within the basin, this seismic program is designed to delineate potential traps and hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Ninety five percent of the seismic program will be conducted on existing roads over 10 seismic lines. The first line, near the village of Koro, has been in test phase for the last week and has now moved into full acquisition.
The acquisition program is provided by Polaris, Canada's oldest and most internationally experienced geophysical firm. The seismic equipment, which was developed in western Canada, is designed for low-environmental-impact seismic acquisition while delivering good energy for subsurface penetration. Three Polaris Explorer 860 seismic acquisition tractors, of which each are only 3m wide and specially designed for environmentally sensitive areas, will be used. This system operates at low frequency to protect wildlife communications and will not operate at night when elephants typically communicate.
The program, including processing and initial local interpretation, should be concluded by the end of October 2021. The results, integrated with the Vertical Seismic Profiles currently being prepared for the 6-2 and 6-1 wells, will be used to guide the next round of drilling, expected to commence before year end.
This program provides good employment over the course of two to three months across both east and west Kavango regions, with 50-60 field support personnel rotating from local villages. This operation is utilizing local lodges, four flycamps (support camps) along with many local suppliers such as hotels, rentals, yards, catering.
Vertical Seismic Profile
With multiple logging runs completed and 86 sidewall cores now taken in the 6-1 well, ReconAfrica is preparing to run and cement casing to isolate the prospective hydrocarbon bearing zones. Shortly thereafter, a vertical seismic profile tool ("VSP") will be run to total depth to tie into the 2D seismic program. The first stratigraphic test well, the 6-2, will also have a VSP run and the two wells will be tied together along the same seismic line in order to assess geologic continuity between these two wells.
Community Water Wells
In addition to the four community water wells ReconAfrica has drilled thus far, working in alliance with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform and Governors offices of east and west Kavango, the Company has permitted an additional 20 community water wells. The exact locations of these water wells are being selected strategically throughout both the east and west Kavango regions to community members who need access to fresh water the most. Of the 20 permitted water wells, eight locations have now been selected.
A competitive bidding process has been conducted with local water well drilling companies. The final selection of two drilling companies will take place the first week of August. ReconAfrica expects to begin drilling and completing these first eight water wells during the second week of August.
The budget for the drilling and completion of the initial eight of 20 community water wells is approximately NAD $4,153,000 (CDN $355,000). All community water wells will be solar powered.
6-2 Well Update
The release of additional information on the 6-2 well (the first test well) is expected to be provided in the next week following submittal and acceptance of all data to the Namibian government in accordance with the Namibian Petroleum Law. Appropriate information will be released with the approval of relevant government agencies. All data obtained from the Company's exploration activities is the property of the state of Namibia, consistent with the terms of our exploration licence and with practices in most international producing oil and gas jurisdictions. Oil and gas data is held proprietary for five years under the terms of Namibian Petroleum Law, which is also common international practice.
