Roc Oil updates Massambala oil discovery

Roc Oil (Cabinda) Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, announces that the Massambala-1CH2 sidetrack hole has reached a prognosed total depth of 491 metres and wireline and coring programmes have been completed. The sidetrack hole was drilled to evaluate a shallow oil zone intersected by Massambala-1, ROC’s first exploration well in Angola.

On 27 August 2007, Massambala-1CH2 was suspended for possible re-entry in order to determine the commercial merit of the discovery. Laboratory analyses have been initiated with regard to the fluid and core samples obtained from the sidetrack well and results are expected during the next several weeks.

At the depth of the shallow oil accumulation, approximately 400 metres, the Massambala feature is currently mapped on 3D seismic data as a gentle four-way dip structure with a vertical relief in the order of 16 metres at the well which is located a few metres below the structure’s high point.

As currently mapped, the area of structural closure is approximately 26 sq km/6,400 acres and based on an apparent oil-water contact identified in the well, it would seem that the shallow Massambala structure is filled to spill.