Noble drillship’s ongoing ops yield ‘promising’ results: One well coming on stream next month, another due online in October

UK-based oil and gas player Trident Energy is making inroads in its infill drilling campaign on Block G off the coast of Equatorial Guinea with a drillship owned by the U.S.-headquartered Noble Corporation.

Trident Energy (40.375%) is the operator of Block G while its partners are Kosmos Energy (40.375%), Panoro Energy (14.25%), and GEPetrol (5%). The infill drilling program was put on ice in February 2024, when the contract for the Island Innovator rig was terminated due to alleged safety concerns.

Afterward, the operator of Block G sealed a deal with Noble Corporation in April 2024 to restart its drilling campaign offshore Equatorial Guinea with the Noble Venturer drillship.

The rig arrived at Luba port, Bioko Island, at the start of summer 2024 to embark on infill drilling of two wells at the Ceiba and Okume Complex fields in shallow and deep waters of the Rio Muni basin. Shortly afterward drilling activities recommenced in water depths of 250 and 740 meters.

Given the limitations arising from the shallower water depth at one of the planned infill well locations, the third infill well was deferred as part of a potential future drilling campaign. 

The operator and its partners expect to add new production volume when two new infill wells are on stream. According to Trident’s partner, Panoro, the first infill well has been drilled and completed with “promising initial results.”

The company explains that both the primary and secondary reservoirs meet expectations and the well is slated to begin production in early September. On the other hand, the second infill well is anticipated to be completed and brought online in October 2024.

Upon the completion of work at the two Block G infill wells, the Noble Venturer drillship will move to Block S to drill the Kosmos Energy-operated Akeng Deep infrastructure-led exploration (ILX) well, which is targeting an estimated gross mean resource of around 180 million barrels of oil.