VAALCO announced that it has completed the installation of the production platform at its Ebouri field in offshore Gabon, West Africa. The platform has been tied back via pipeline to the Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility that also serves VAALCO’s Etame and Avouma / Tchibala fields. With the installation of the platform complete and the pipeline successfully tested, VAALCO confirmed that it remains on schedule to commence drilling the Ebouri development well, with oil production expected in December 2008 at an initial rate of 4,000 to 6,000 barrels per day, as previously announced.
The Company also announced that the jack-up drilling rig, Pride Cabinda, is expected to be on location by late September/early October to drill three exploratory wells on the Etame concession. These exploratory wells include an appraisal well (North Ebouri) for possible expansion of the Ebouri development project and two additional wells ( North Etame and South East Etame) on newly mapped structures. The wells will be drilled back to back and have combined gross reserve potential additions in excess of 60 million barrels.
Onshore Gabon, VAALCO remains on schedule to commence drilling the first of two exploratory wells in December on VAALCO’s wholly owned Mutamba concession. Combined potential reserves for these wells are expected to be in excess of 30 million barrels.
“We are making good progress in bringing production online and exploring new opportunities for growth,” said Robert L. Gerry, III, Chairman and CEO. “With our platform installed and connected to our FPSO on time and on budget, we now have key infrastructure in place to begin new production at Ebouri as planned. The work underway in our Ebouri and Etame fields, together with additional exploratory wells in Angola and the North Sea, offers the prospect of significantly increasing shareholder value through the addition of new reserves.”
VAALCO also announced that the buyer of its crude oil has nominated approximately 675,000 barrels to be lifted for the end of the first week of August from the Company’s FPSO.
