VAALCO Energy Inc. said Feb. 18 that the South East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore drilled from the VAALCO-operated South East Etame North Tchibala platform offshore Gabon in the Etame Marin permit area successfully encountered oil sands in the Gamba Formation.

VAALCO’s highlights included the presence of Gamba oil sands in the step-out area at South East Etame; encountered about 20 feet of good-quality Gamba oil sands, with similar reservoir quality as exists in the South East Etame 2H well; and drilled the South East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore to a total depth of 6,311 feet (1,923 m).

VAALCO currently estimates gross prospective resources of 1 to 2 million barrels of oil (MMbbl), or 0.3 to 0.5 MMbbl of oil net revenue interest to VAALCO, present in this newly discovered step-out area. The company said drilling did not encounter H2S in the reservoir, but operations are underway to begin drilling the South East Etame 4H development well based on this successful appraisal wellbore, and expected initial production rates are 1,200 to 2,500 gross barrels per day of oil (bbl/d), or 325 to 675 bbl/d of oil net revenue interest to VAALCO.

“We are delighted by the continued success from our 2019/2020 drilling campaign, where we have now successfully confirmed additional resources from the two appraisal wellbores and brought two development wells online above predrill expectations,” VAALCO CEO Cary Bounds said.

With the drilling of the South East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore, VAALCO has satisfied the drilling commitment as part of the production-sharing contract extension that VAALCO signed in late 2018. This step-out discovery at South East Etame is similar in reservoir quality when compared to the Gamba reservoir from which the South East Etame 2H well is being produced. VAALCO plans to drill a third development well in this campaign, the South East Etame 4H, that will target 1 to 2 MMbbl of gross prospective resources, down from the initial predrill estimate of 4.2 MMbbl which anticipated a thicker oil column than was encountered in the South East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore. 

Initial gross production rates are expected to fall within the range from 1,200 to 2,500 bbl/d of oil, or 325 to 675 bbl/d of oil net revenue interest to VAALCO.  Following the completion of the South East Etame 4H well, VAALCO plans to use the contracted drilling rig to perform additional workovers to preemptively replace electrical submersible pumps that are still operating but near the end of their design life.

Offshore