VAALCO Energy's newest well in offshore Gabon found more gas-bearing rock than the company had planned for, and the payoff is lower diesel bills rather than new barrels for sale.
ETBNM-3 finds more gas pay than planned
The ETBNM-3 well came in with over 10 meters of net reservoir pay in the Dentale D-15 formation, above VAALCO's pre-drill estimates, with what the company described as strong porosity and permeability, the measures of how much fluid a rock can hold and how easily it flows through the rock. The well sits in the crestal portion of the North Tchibala structure and was drilled, completed and placed on production as a gas-supply well.
That gas now feeds field operations, liftings and power needs in Gabon, cutting the cost of the higher priced diesel VAALCO had been using to run those operations. The work falls under upstream oil and gas, the search for and production of hydrocarbons, as distinct from moving or refining them.
VAALCO is still evaluating the potential of shallower pay intervals the well passed through, in the D-9 and D-12 zones, which appear to hold wet gas to light oil.
A second well moves to test SE Etame
VAALCO moved its rig on 27 July to a new slot on the SEENT platform to begin the ETSEM-3PH well, continuing its drilling campaign in offshore Gabon. The well is planned first as a pilot hole near the crest of the central fault block at SE Etame, testing the original field's oil-water contact, the boundary between the oil-bearing rock and the water beneath it, along with the potential of the underlying Dentale formation.
Following the pilot hole, VAALCO plans a horizontal development well, a Gamba producer with a completion length of 300 meters within the Gamba sands.
The company's read
Chief executive George Maxwell addressed the update in a statement covering VAALCO's asset portfolio. He said the newly successful gas well "won't add production or sales directly" but should improve uptime at the field and, over time, potentially lift output from wells already producing there. He added that the company's strategy remains unchanged, focused on growing production, reserves and shareholder value.
ETBNM-3 is an infrastructure well: it adds no oil or gas for sale itself, but supplies gas for field operations, liftings and power at a lower cost than diesel, which the company says should improve uptime and could add production from wells already on stream. ETSEM-3PH is still in progress, with its pilot hole underway ahead of the horizontal Gamba producer planned to follow it.
