Offshore staff
LONDON – Production from the shallow-water Ebok Phase 1 development off Nigeria is currently at 15,800 b/d of oil, according to operator Afren.
Phase 1 targets the field’s central area. Output should increase steadily toward the upper end of the targeted figure (17,000 b/d).
Water injection was commissioned at the field in August, and is operating at a stabilized injection rate of roughly 18,000 b/d from two wells, with capacity to increase to 22,000 b/d.
To date four of the five planned development wells have been drilled and completed as part of Ebok Phase 2, which focuses on the field’s West Fault Block area. All five wells should be onstream during December.
Production tests on available wells have generated flows of up to 5,000 b/d. The full anticipated production capacity of the five wells is around 20,000 b/d of oil.
Earlier this month Afren completed an ocean bottom cable 3D seismic survey over the whole Ebok/Okwok/OML 115 area. The survey started on June 24. This involved acquiring 348 sq km (134 sq mi) of data that should assist future development and infill planning at Ebok; appraisal and development of the nearby Okwok field; and exploration of the prospective OML 115 acreage.
Next summer Afren and its partners plan to drill an exploration well on Ebok North, an untested fault block in the northern area of the field, testing the same reservoirs proven to be oil-bearing elsewhere at the field. Ebok North could hold reserves of 35 MMbbl.
Another exploration well should spud during mid-2012 on the Ufon prospect in the OML 115 lease. This is a 60-MMbbl target thought to have oil prospectivity in the same D Series reservoirs known to be oil bearing at Ebok and Okwok.
As for Okwok, this has been established as a future commercial development, following completion of the Okwok-9 appraisal well last November, results of which suggest 52 MMbbl of recoverable resources.
Afren is evaluating stand-alone development options, most likely a dedicated production installation with processed output stored at and exported from the Ebok field FSO, around 13 km (8 mi) to the west.
The company plans to drill one further appraisal well during the first half of next year to test additional upside at Okwok, which should be followed by formal submission of a field development plan to the Nigerian authorities.
At Okoro, another shallow-water Nigeria field, production averaged 15,400 b/d during 3Q 2011, but has since risen to 18,000 b/d following de-bottlenecking.
By year-end, Afren expects to spud a well on Okoro East, a lookalike structure to the Okoro main field identified earlier in 2011.
Off eastern Africa, in Kenya’s block L17/18, a 400-km (248-mi) 2D survey last year led to the emergence of new prospects and leads on the acreage. Afren plans to acquire further 2D seismic in the deepwater region this month ahead of planned exploration drilling on the coastal play in 2012.
To the south in Tanzania’s Tanga block, Afren completed a 751-km (466-mi) shallow water 2D seismic survey earlier this year which has led to clearer definition of several large-scale prospects and leads, along with new zones of additional potential.
The company plans to drill the Orpheus prospect in 2012 from an offshore location and is currently acquiring further deepwater 2D seismic data.
11/22/2011
