US-based energy firm VAALCO Energy has spudded the South East Etame 4P appraisal wellbore and encountered oil offshore Gabon, as part of its 2019-20 drilling programme.
The well has been drilled from the Vaalco-operated South East Etame North Tchibala (SEENT) platform in the Etame Marin permit area and encountered oil sands in the Gamba formation.
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Vaalco Energy has verified the presence of Gamba oil sands in the step-out area at South East Etame and encountered approximately 20ft of good-quality Gamba oil sands, with similar reservoir quality to the South East Etame 2H well.
Vaalco Energy CEO Cary Bounds said: “The South East Etame 4P is an important appraisal wellbore and was drilled to further delineate our potential resource base at South East Etame. This step-out discovery is accessing new prospective resources that should be converted to 2P reserves by year-end 2020 following the successful drilling of the South East Etame 4H and further technical evaluation.
“The initial analysis shows that this new step out discovery has similar reservoir quality as the reservoir from which the South East Etame 2H well is producing.”
According to the company, gross prospective resources of about one to two million barrels of oil (Mmbo) were present in the newly discovered step out area. The drilling results did not encounter hydrogen sulfide (H₂S).
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By GlobalDataCurrently, operations are underway to drill the South East Etame 4H development well section in the Gamba reservoir.
Vaalco Energy expects initial production rates to be between gross 1,20 barrels of oil per day (bopd) to 2,500bopd.
In December last year, Vaalco Energy completed Etame 9H well development on the Etame field. This well included around 1,000ft of horizontal section in Gamba reservoir and came online at a stabilised flow rate of gross 5,500bopd with no H₂S.
