Nuevo Plugs Dry Hole off Ghana

Nuevo Energy Co. said Friday it plugged and abandoned its first exploration well offshore Ghana as a dry hole.

Nuevo said the 50 percent owned NAK 1 well, the first exploration well in its 1.9-million-acre (800,000 ha) Accra-Keta Permit offshore the Republic of Ghana, was started on Jan. 10 and drilled in 1,021 feet (310 meters) of water to a total depth of 10,100 feet (3,080 m).

The company, which is the operator of the Accra-Keta Permit, estimated the cost of the well at about $12.5 million, saying it will pay about $1.5 million of this total. Its partners are EOG Resources with 25 percent and two Korean firms with 12.5 percent each -- state oil company Korea National Oil Corp and SK Corp. , South Korea's largest oil refiner.

``We continue to be enthusiastic about the potential for discovering significant reserves in our extensive holdings offshore Ghana, even though this is a wildcat area with a high level of risk,'' said Doug Foshee, Chairman and CEO of Nuevo. ``Over the coming months, we will evaluate the NAK #1 well results, along with other technical data, in order to determine our next steps in this Permit.''

Nuevo stock was unchanged at $17.10 per share in late Friday morning trading.