Tap Oil has confirmed an award by the Accra joint venture of a rig services contract for the drilling of the Starfish prospect offshore Ghana to Stena Drilling.

The Starfish-1 well will be drilled by the Stena DrillMAX dual-derrick drillship, which has recently drilled eight wells in Ghana. Stena has experience in Ghana, and is providing the rig at competitive dayrates in conjunction with an existing West African drilling program, said Tap Oil.

The wildcat well is expected to spud in June this year. The probe will target a large, fan complex in deepwater eastern Ghana, anticipated to be potentially comparable to the Jubilee field in western Ghana, according to Tap Oil.

The company estimates the prospective resources potentially are in the order of 500 MMbbl.

The offshore Accra contract area is located in the West Africa transform margin, along the northern Gulf of Guinea.