Bissau Exploration Company Ltd (“BEC” or the “Company”) is a UK private limited company set up as a consultancy to support national governments and to advise on opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Company was founded in 2015 by Elwyn Jones and Jim Gulland, both experienced geophysical services executives. BEC is a sister company of, and has common shareholders with, GeoPartners Ltd, a highly experienced and successful international consultancy, specialising in providing geophysical and geological services to the international energy industry.
BEC’s first project was Block 4B in Guinea Bissau, where the Company has a 90% equity stake.
In 2017 BEC signed a joint venture agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources of Guinea Bissau – and in 2018 the “Bagre” License was officially awarded to the Company. The Bagre licence covers Block 4B of c. 3,000 sq km in the deep water of the MSGBC Basin, but importantly it is directly on trend to the Sangomar Field in Senegal. The carbonate shelf edge that defines the Sangomar structure can be mapped running due south through Block 4B and thereby offering prospective opportunities on the Shelf akin Sangomar and, in the basin, akin the Fan discoveries.
During the initial four year period the Company has, through a deal secured with TGS, gained access to a large multi client seismic data base consisting of 2D, 3D and sea bed cores. A total of 2,680 sq km of 3D on the block has been mapped and this is supplemented by a further 1,181 sq km of 3D seismic immediately adjacent to the block and 2,878 km of regional 2D data allowing key wells to be tied in. The seismic database is shown in the map above. The regional interpretation and the detailed mapping on the block, including AVO studies, have been completed.
Prospectivity post 3D acquisition and interpretation
To establish the prospectivity, BEC has utilised ‘best in class’ UK independent contractors, including including Wealden, Integrated Geochemical Interpretation (IGI), Down Under Geophysics (DUG) and Wessex Geoscience to undertake bespoke work such as an Atlantic margin reconstruction of this pivotal part of the African margin, a comprehensive data basing and review of source rocks and their maturity across the MSGBC, and inversion and AVO work of the basinal plays where well calibration is limited.