The 9,075 km2 Diaba license is located about 50km off the southern coast of Gabon in water depths between 100m and 3,500m.
Marathon Oil global exploration vice president Annell R Bay said the company is will re-enter Gabon and join its partners to explore pre-salt objectives in the Diaba permit.
"This partnership combines the extensive deepwater drilling and completion experience of Marathon Oil, Cobalt and Total Gabon to fully evaluate the potential of this license," Bay said.
The 3D seismic survey of the permit’s 6,000km2 area was conducted in 2010 which followed the 2D seismic survey in 2008 and 2009 and the processing of the Diaba seismic data was completed in late 2011.
Based on the data interpretation, the company is preparing to start exploration drilling in the first quarter of 2013.
Total Gabon is the operator of the Diaba license and permit along with CIE Gabon Diaba, an affiliate of Cobalt International Energy, and the Republic of Gabon.
