Ivory Coast disappoints for African Petroleum

West Africa has emerged as a bright spot for new oil and gas discoveries. African Petroleum, an independent oil and gas company with a strong regional portfolio, said an exploration well off the Ivorian coast found oil, but nothing significant.

"The well results are obviously not what we were hoping for," CEO Jens Pace said in a statement. "However, as an exploration company, we are always pragmatic about the chances of success when it comes to drilling exploration prospects."

African Petroleum two years ago brought in its counterparts at Ophir Energy to its license area in the Ivory Coast, which eventually led to a multi-million dollar commitment to support a production sharing contract in the region.

British energy company BP said last week its joint effort off the coast of West Africa with Kosmos Energy led to a "major" discovery of natural gas off the coast of Mauritania and Senegal. Kosmos said it was six-for-six with its exploration and appraisal efforts so far off the regional coast.

Meanwhile, FAR Ltd., an Australian company with a strong regional portfolio, has described the broader Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau basin as one of the more promising exploration prospects.

African Petroleum said it was considering its next steps in Ivory Coast, setting its sights on selling off some of its regional holdings to raise capital.

"Our full attention now returns to concluding the farm-outs in Senegal and The Gambia so that we can return to exploration drilling in the near future," the CEO said.