Victoria Oil & Gas announces an update on drilling operations under the Wouri River to Bonaberi in Douala, Cameroon. In summary, following equipment problems experienced by the Company's drilling contractors, Britanica Horizontal Directional Drilling Ltd ("Britanica"), during the final pipe pull under the Wouri River, a decision has been made by Britanica, in conjunction with the Company, to restart the pipe insertion and pull. Consequently, the Wouri River crossing will now be delayed by approximately 4-6 weeks.

The remedial cost for this work will be the responsibility of Britanica. In addition to the river crossing, a second Britanica team, using a smaller horizontal directional drilling machine, will be laying 400m of pipe into the Magzi Estate and finalising the connection from the main line to the river crossing entry point.

These ancillary works are expected to be completed around the same time as the river crossing and accordingly, once the river crossing is complete, the first 3 customers at Magzi Estate are expected to commence consumption of gas. Kevin Foo, Chairman, said: "This delay to the crossing is frustrating. However, with any sub-surface process there are always engineering challenges and it is not unusual to encounter technical issues. 

Source: Selected by SPTEC Advisory from Oil Voice, September 23