Offshore staff
LONDON -- Afren’s latest appraisal well on the Ebok field off Nigeria has exceeded expectations. Ebok-6, drilled by Transocean’s jackup Adriatic IX on the Ebok D2 southern lobe, encountered a gross oil column of 107 ft (32.6 m).
The result has led Afren to upgrade volumes in the D2 structure by 400% to 135 MMbbl, compared with the pre-drill estimate of 33 MMbbl. Around 23 MMbbl is thought to be recoverable, lifting the total 2P Ebok recovery estimate to 116 MMbbl.
Work is now under way on Phase 1a of the development project. The scheme involves drilling five horizontal oil producer wells into the D2 reservoir; one horizontal oil producer targeting the D1 reservoir; and one water injector in the central Fault Block 1 and 2 areas.
All the wells will be drilled from a single location via a wellhead support structure and mobile offshore production unit. Associated gas will serve as fuel for power generation on the offshore facilities and as gas-lift for the wells.
On completion of this phase, the next steps will be full development of the D2 southern lobe, the D1 reservoir fault blocks 1 and 2, and also the Fault Block West. Concurrently, Afren plans to appraise potential within the West Flank Qua Iboe structure, the D2 upside extension, and the Fault Block North, all of which are thought to hold cumulatively 66 MMbbl recoverable.
01/15/2010
