US-based Vaalco Energy has started a new, six well, development drilling campaign on the Etame Marin block offshore Gabon following the installation of the Etame platform and the Southeast Etame/North Tchibala (SEENT) platform.
Both were installed using EMAS AMC's newbuild flagship, the Lewek Constellation (pictured, during the Gabon campaign), which is due to arrive in Rotterdam to have a multi-lay tower installed in the next week.
The first well, Etame 8-H, has already spuuded using the contracted Transocean Constellation II jackup drilling rig. Constellation II will be used to drill two additional development wells (Etame 9-H and 10-H), each targeting the Gamba sand formation in the Etame field, where Vaalco has been producing oil since 2002, via subsea wells. First oil from the Etame 8-H well is expected in December 2014.
The Constellation II will be mobilized to drill three additional development wells from the SEENT platform, beginning with a well to be drilled in the Southeast Etame field where the company drilled a successful exploration well in 2010. The remaining two development wells in the six well campaign will target Dentale sand formations in the North Tchibala field.
The newly installed Etame and SEENT platforms are each equipped with eight well slots to provide for the option to drill up to five additional development wells from each platform after the completion of the current six well drilling campaign.
Steve Guidry, Vaalco's CEO, said: "The spudding of the first well in this new drilling campaign offshore Gabon is a proud moment for Vaalco and the culmination of years of work. We are now in a position to further develop the producing fields in the Etame Marin concession that have been the cornerstone of Vaalco's growth."
Vaalco is a Houston based independent energy company with properties and exploration acreage primarily in Gabon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.
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Lewek Constellation heads to North Sea
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