After a massive increase of 113% of the oil produced and sold in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, Houston-based oil company, Vaalco, is set to drill two production development wells and appraise two potential sites for exploration at its Etame field, offshore Gabon, in late-2021. The wells and appraisals are to cost between $72.7 and $78.8 million.

The company also plans to move from its floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel in Etame to floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel, which could save the company about $15-20 million per year.

Vaalco expects to commence its next drilling campaign at the Etame field in late 2021 or early 2022 and is expected to reach oil production of over 7,000 barrels of oil per day this year.

Vaalco produced and sold 619,000 barrels of oil in Q1 2021. The company’s 11-year contract with BW Offshore to provide and operate an FSO at the Etame field will begin once its current FPSO contract ends in September 2022.

Newly acquired seismic data, which will be fully analysed and processed by the fourth quarter of 2021, will enhance sub-surface imaging over the entire block and will be used to optimize drilling locations for the 2021/2022 drilling campaigns.

Commenting, the Chief Executive Officer of Vaalco, George Maxwell, said: “We carried out the engineering and feasibility studies in the field. We know we have the capacity to fund it. Additional bridges are needed on the Etame platform, some subsea lines need to be reversed and flow lines need to be hooked up to the platform rather than the FPSO.”