Africa-focused oil and gas company VAALCO Energy said Wednesday that its partners in the Etame field offshore Gabon had approved the plan to charter an FSO to replace the FPSO currently deployed at the Etame field.
VAALCO, which first announced the FSO charter plans on August 26, said that the charter deal with the FSO owner World Carrier Offshore Services Corp was now effective. The Cap Diamant, a double-hull crude tanker built in 2001, will be converted to an FSO for operations at the Etame field.
By deploying the FSO at the field, VAALCO said it would significantly reduce storage and offloading costs by almost 50%, increase effective capacity for storage by over 50%, and extend the field's life, resulting in a corresponding increase in recovery and reserves at Etame.
George Maxwell, VAALCO’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “The quick approval of the Agreements by our co-venturers further solidifies the tremendous benefits of this FSO solution at Etame. We expect to have the FSO in place and operating in September 2022 prior to when our current FPSO contract expires. We will continue to maximize the value opportunities for our shareholders and look forward to beginning our next drilling campaign at Etame later this year.”
BW Offshore's Petroleo Nautipa FPSO is currently used for oil production at the Etame field offshore Gabon.
VAALCO said in July it had signed a contract with Borr Jack-Up XIV Inc., an affiliate of Borr Drilling Limited, to drill at least two development wells and two appraisal wellbores with options to drill additional wells, at the Etame in order to boost production at the field.
The contract provides, among other things, that the drilling rig can be on location as early as December of 2021, with the exact timing dependent on other commitments related to the rig. The company expects the cost of the 2021/2022 drilling campaign at Etame to be between $115.0 million and $125.0 million gross, or $73.0 million and $79.0 million, net to VAALCO’s 63.6% participating interest.