VAALCO Energy today announced that the Etame co-venturers approved the Bareboat Contract and Operating Agreement with World Carrier Offshore Services Corp and the Agreements are now effective. As previously announced on August 25, 2021, the new Agreements to replace the existing Floating Production, Storage and Offloading unit (“FPSO”) with a Floating Storage and Offloading unit (“FSO”) will significantly reduce storage and offloading costs by almost 50%, increase effective capacity for storage by over 50%, and is expected to lead to an extension of the economic field life, resulting in a corresponding increase in recovery and reserves at Etame.

George Maxwell, VAALCO’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, 
“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.”

Map source: KeyFacts Energy

The Etame Marin block has been producing oil since 2002.

Vaalco Energy is the operator and holds a 63.6% participating interest in the offshore field complex, while the other development partners are Sinopec’s subsidiary Addax Petroleum (33.9%), and PetroEnergy (2.5%). Vaalco Energy earlier held a 33.6% interest in the project which was increased to 63.6% after acquired a 27.8% working interest from Sasol Gabon in February 2021.

The total crude production from the Etame Marin block during 2020 stood at approximately 6.57 million barrels compared with 4.7 million barrels in 2019.

The block has produced more than 120 million barrels of crude oil since its inception, while the remaining reserves and resources are estimated to be approximately 113 million barrels.