Bemolanga
Encyclopedia
Tar sands
Bituminous sands, colloquially known as oil sands or tar sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. The sands contain naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, water, and a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen...
deposit in the onshore
Onshore (hydrocarbons)
Onshore, when used relative to hydrocarbons, refers to an oil, natural gas or condensate field that is under dry land or to activities or operations carried out in relation to such a field.-References:* *...
Morondava Basin
Morondava Basin
Morondava Basin is one of the major sedimentary basins of Madagascar. It encompasses the large Tsimiroro heavy oil field and giant Bemolanga ultra heavy oil field....
of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
discovered in the early 1900s but known to locals for centuries. The field is located north of the Tsimiroro
Tsimiroro
Tsimiroro is the name of a large oil field in the onshore Morondava Basin of Madagascar found south of the Bemolanga ultra heavy oil field and south of the town of Morafenobe.. It is estimated to contain as many as of heavy oil...
heavy oil
Heavy crude oil
Heavy crude oil or extra heavy crude oil is any type of crude oil which does not flow easily. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light crude oil. Heavy crude oil has been defined as any liquid petroleum with an API gravity less than 20°.Extra...
field and east of the town of Morafenobe
Morafenobe
Morafenobe is a town and commune in western Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Morafenobe, which is a part of Melaky Region.Morafenobe is served by a local airport. Primary and junior level secondary education are available in town. The town provides access to hospital services to its...
(it is located at 17°47'19"S, 45°07'15"E).
Madagascar Oil
Madagascar Oil
Madagascar Oil SA is a Malagasy company, founded by Sam Malin with South African businessman Michael Smith and Australian businessmen Robert Nelson. Madagascar Oil focuses on the development, exploration and production of petroleum. It is the principal onshore oil company in Madagascar in terms of...
, founded by Sam Malin
Sam Malin
Sam Malin is a Canadian businessman based in Madagascar. He has founded a number of companies including Madagascar Oil, Red Island Minerals, Avana Petroleum and Avana Uranium.- Educational Background :...
, is current license holder of the Bemolanga field. It describes the field as being a giant bitumen field of 8-13ºAPI
API gravity
The American Petroleum Institute gravity, or API gravity, is a measure of how heavy or light a petroleum liquid is compared to water. If its API gravity is greater than 10, it is lighter and floats on water; if less than 10, it is heavier and sinks...
low sulphur (<1%) and low vanadium
Vanadium
Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...
ultra heavy oil
Tar sands
Bituminous sands, colloquially known as oil sands or tar sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. The sands contain naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, water, and a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen...
. It gives the oil resources as:
| 16.6 | n/a | ||||||||||||
| Recoverable reserves Oil reserves The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is... |
n/a | 9.8 | |||||||||||
The field is at 0-30 m (0-100 ft) depth and about 120 km (75 mi) from the coast.
Thirteen wells
Oil well
An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...
and over 500 core-holes were drilled from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The hydrocarbons are found in the Isalo and Amboloando formations over an area of approximately 400 km² (150 sq mi). The prospective surface mining area is defined by wherever there is less than 40 m (130 ft) depth to top tarsand. The average overburden
Overburden
Overburden is the material that lies above an area of economic or scientific interest in mining and archaeology; most commonly the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. It is also known as 'waste' or 'spoil'...
thickness in the surface mining
Surface mining
Surface mining , is a type of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit are removed...
area is around 15 m (50 ft) (considerably less than average overburden thickness in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) and oil saturation is up to 12%.
The source rock
Source rock
In petroleum geology, source rock refers to rocks from which hydrocarbons have been generated or are capable of being generated. They form one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been deposited in a variety of environments including...
s for the Bemolanga oil is believed to be the Karoo formation of the Middle Sakamena
Sakamena
Sakamena is a city in the Faritanin' i Toliara administrative district of Madagascar.-Location:The geographic coordinates for Sakamena are: Latitude: -23S, Longitude: -45E, Elevation: 247 ft ....
Shale. The field was lifted to its present near surface location due to the renewed uplifting and seaward tilting of the island of Madagascar during the Tertiary period.
After discussions that began in 2004, Total
Total S.A.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...
farmed in to Bemolanga, in September 2008, acquiring a 60 percent interest and operatorship and agreeing a 2 year program to drill 130 additional core wells at a cost of $200 million. Total began its own field work in mid 2009, with the start-up of commercial production planned for 2018. If development of the field is successful, it is expected that 2.5 Goilbbl of recoverable resources will be developed to produce 180000 barrels (28,617.7 m³) of oil per day for more than 30 years.
The Bemolanga field gives its name to the homonymous song by the Malagasy group, Mahaleo
Mahaleo
Mahaleo is the name of a music band from Madagascar that plays tsentsigat.The band was founded in 1972, during the protest movement that led to the end of the neocolonial government...
.