The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons Equatorial Guinea has announced the details of the 2021 Work and Budget Program for Exploration and Production (E&P) activities in the oil and gas sector in 2021.

Trident Energy is to drill three wells in Block G, and each well is to take thirty-three (33) days to complete. The drilling is to commence in April 2021. The Block is located 15 kilometres offshore Equatorial Guinea, and it houses the Ceiba and Okume fields. The field is to yield new development opportunities following Trident’s acquisition of 4D seismic in the first quarter of 2020.

Noble Energy is to carry out refurbishment work on its Aseng Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit over ten (10) days, to maintain the safety, reliability, and productivity of the infrastructure. Intervention works are to be carried out in wells 5P and WI-1.

Maintenance works will be carried out on the Zafiro, Jade and Serpentina infrastructures, with execution planning activities carried out ahead of the well repairs on the Jade platform by 2022, along with optimisation of production and management of inactive wells. ExxonMobil is the operator of the Zafiro field. The field was producing 90,000 barrels per day, before the pandemic, via the Jade fixed production and drilling platform and Serpentina FPSO.

As of October 2020, the total crude oil production in Equatorial Guinea was 35.15 million barrels, an average daily production rate of 115,250 barrels per day. Total condensate production was 9.48 million barrels, an average daily production rate of 31,079 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The Ministry aims to boost hydrocarbon output in 2021 by facilitating the influx of foreign capital and allowing operators to carry out capital-intensive E&P activities. The projection for Foreign Direct Investment in 2021 is $1.1 billion.