The company, along with its partner, UK-based independent oil and gas exploration and production company, Tullow Oil, has plans to drill the well to a total depth of 4,112m and test the Cretaceous and Jurassic sandstone targets.
It has been estimated by Africa Oil’s independent resource evaluator that the Paipai-1 well has about 121 million barrels of prospective resources.
Africa Oil president and CEO Keith Hill said the well’s geological history can be compared with producing basins in Sudan.
"Paipai-1 will test a large structural trap in what is considered to be an oil-prone area of the Anza basin," Hill said.
"Legacy wells have encountered significant oil and gas shows, but newly acquired seismic surveys have helped improve mapping and identify the Paipai prospect as a favorable and potentially high-impact exploration target."
The company is planning to put three drilling rigs into operations before the end of 2012 and begin drilling multiple exploration targets before the end of 2013.
