Trident warming up for three-well campaign as E. Guinea works to offset declining output

Following the arrival of a jack-up rig, Trident Energy is gearing up to drill three wells at its operated field located offshore Equatorial Guinea as the country is working to revitalise its oil and gas sector and offset declining hydrocarbon production.

Energy Capital & Power, an Africa-focused global energy investment platform, on behalf of Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH), revealed on Thursday that Trident Energy would start drilling in the Elon offshore field this month. The field is located in Block G in the Rio Muni Basin.

Trident is the operator of the G Block producing fields, while Kosmos operates the surrounding exploration acreage: Block S, Block W, and Block EG-21.

MMH’s 2021 Work and Budget Program targets $1.1 billion in foreign direct investment into the oil and gas sector. Under this program, the ministry has approved the drilling of three planned infill wells – Elon-A, Elon-C, and Elon-D.

These wells will serve to offset declining hydrocarbon production at the nearby Ceiba and Okume fields, which are located in the Gulf of Guinea, in water depths ranging from 50m to 800m. They began producing in 2000 and 2006, respectively.

According to the statement by Energy Capital & Power, the Vantage Drilling-owned Sapphire Driller jack-up rig will start drilling operations of the first part of the Elon-C well on 22 June.

Trident confirmed in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that, following its journey from Cameroon to Bata starting on 15 June, the rig would start drilling the first well on 22 June.

The rig has been preparing for the contract since the first quarter of 2021. Once the Trident contract expires, the rig will undergo a preparation period before starting a new contract in the Middle East in 2022.

The Sapphire Driller is a jack-up rig of a BMC 375 design built in 2009 by PPL Shipyard. The rig was awarded a two-well firm contract with five options by Trident back in December 2020. Bassoe Offshore estimated that the rig’s day rate would be around $75,000.

In addition to the perforation of the three wells, a tripod structure will be permanently installed in the Elon-C well to support the production equipment and flow lines that lead the flow production fluids to the Okume platform.

Located 15km offshore Equatorial Guinea, Block G is also home to the Ceiba and Okume Complex, which comprises six offshore fields in both shallow and deepwater.

Block G is expected to yield new development opportunities following Trident Energy’s acquisition of 4D seismic in the first quarter of 2020. Covering an area of 340 square kilometres, the survey was carried out using the Polarcus Naila vessel.

Energy Capital & Power noted that the MMH has set its sights on revitalizing the country’s oil and gas sector by facilitating an influx of foreign capital and enabling operators to carry out capital-intensive E&P activities in 2021.

As of October 2020, total crude oil production in Equatorial Guinea stood at 35.15 million barrels, translating to an average daily production of 115,250 bpd. Total condensate production amounted to 9.48 million barrels, translating to an average daily production of 31,079 bpd.

Trident Energy acquired its first assets in Equatorial Guinea together with partner Kosmos Energy from Hess Corporation back in 2017 for a price tag of $650 million. Following the acquisition, Trident was put in charge of production operations and optimization and Kosmos for exploration and subsurface evaluation.

Since acquiring the assets, Trident, in partnership with Kosmos Energy, has grown its portfolio to include two producing fields and three exploration blocks with six platforms and one floating production and storage offloading unit.

In related news, earlier this year, Panoro Energy became a partner in Block G following its acquisition of a 14.25 per cent non-operated working interest in the block from Tullow.