Offshore staff
LONDON – Afren plans to step up development of last year’s Okoro field extension oil discovery offshore Nigeria.
The company and partner Amni International Petroleum Development Co. proved the extension last January with a well drilled 2 km (1.2 mi) east of the Okoro main field. It encountered net pay of 549 ft (167 m) of light oil in reservoir sands with average porosity of 30-35%.
Last summer, the partners drilled a development well on the extension(Okoro-14) from the field’s existing wellhead platform, which was later brought onstream at 5,000 b/d via the Okoro FPSO. Available wellhead slots on the platform will be used to gain early production information to optimize a full-field development. This could involve drilling up to eight more production wells.
This year the partners intend to drill one infill producer/side track to maximize sweep efficiency of the main field reservoirs, and to start fabrication of a new wellhead platform for full development ofOkoro field extension.
Elsewhere off Nigeria, the jackupAdriatic IX transferred to Afren’s Ebok field in November. Its schedule includes drilling a development well to establish early production from the Ebok NFB discovery via the existing facilities.
That well has been drilled and is currently being prepared for long-term production. Performance data will again be used to optimize development. Additionally, the partners have brought onstream a new horizontal production well drilled into a previously undeveloped reservoir in Ebok’s central fault block.
Three more production wells and a water injector will be drilled on the field this year.
Last year, Afren completed processing and interpretation of a 348-sq km (134-sq mi) ocean-bottom cable 3D seismic survey over the entire Ebok/Okwok/OML 115 lease area. The data will assist an appraisal program ahead of any development.
In November, the company and partner Oriental spudded the Okwok-10 appraisal well to assess additional oil potential in an undrilled fault block. The well encountered 72 ft (22 m) of net oil pay in the D Series reservoirs that have proven oil-bearing elsewhere on the Okwok field and which are also in production at the nearby Ebok field. A subsequent side track encountered a further 89 ft (27 m) of net oil pay.
Following testing operations, the well will be suspended and drilling will start on Okwok-11, the final appraisal well prior to formal submission of a field development plan to the Nigerian authorities. This will likely call for installation of a dedicated production processing platform tied back to the Ebok FSO vessel 13 km (8 mi) to the west.
Finally, the partners plan to spud the first exploration well this spring on the OML 115 block using the recently contracted rigTransocean Monitor. This will probably be on the Ufon structure, which is structurally and geologically analogous to Ebok and Okwok fields.
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1/21/2013
