Anadarko Initiates Aggressive Exploration Programme World-Wide

Anadarko Petroleum is planning a series of extensive deep-water exploration projects across the world in the coming months. Anadarko's senior vice president of Worldwide Exploration, Bob Daniels, in a speech webcast shared the details of the campaign. "The inventory of opportunities we have is better than it's ever been," he said. "We will continue with a very aggressive exploration program around the world," he added.

According to Daniels, another positive outcome of the tremendous success with Jubilee discovery in Ghana is the extension of exploration opportunities in the neighboring West African countries. The list of Anadarko's projects that are ready to take off in the next one and a half year is very impressive. Drilling of the first deep-water well in Liberia is already underway aside from the offshore exploration projects in Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. The seismic data of the Montserrado Prospect according to Daniels is very promising and is a "look-alike" of the Jubilee discovery, which is believed to hold 600 million and 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Furthermore, 15 deep-water exploration and appraisal wells in West African waters are in the offing for the company. Anadarko also believes Kenya holds some untapped prospects and has obtained licenses for "most of the deep water."

Daniels also mentioned "an inventory of discoveries and a very, very deep portfolio of exploration wells to drill," in the Gulf of Mexico. He expressed great delight in the company securing three drilling permits from US regulators and said, "That's very good progress in that we now have some confidence that when we apply for a permit we know about how long its going to take...That allows us to then put rig contracts in place."