Nigeria: Erin Energy secures funds for new well, suspends development program hook-up

Erin Energy has obtained funding commitment to drill its high-impact Miocene exploration well offshore Nigeria and temporarily suspended the hook-up of the Oyo-9 well due to delays in the release of the remaining funds. 

Regarding its Miocene exploration well, the oil company informed on Wednesday that the site survey of drilling location has been completed and the well is planned to be spudded during this quarter. Also, following the commitment to fund the drilling of the Miocene exploration well, the first option well of the drilling contract has been exercised with the drilling contractor.

Erin Energy also announced the completion of the drilling phase of the Oyo-9 well offshore Nigeria, which was spudded in mid-August. The well results indicate presence of the target channel system and 85.3 feet of net oil sand. The results are in line with predictions and confirm field extension to the western part of the field. Both the engineering and manufacturing of the subsea equipment are at various stages of completion.

However, due to chronic delays in the release of the remaining funds and improper interference by the guarantor of the loan facility, as agreed to between the bank and Erin for the project, the company has decided to temporarily suspend the completion and hook-up of the development program. On several occasions the company has demanded the guarantor cease and desist from interfering in the disbursement of funds for the project. Consequently, the Pacific Bora drilling rig and all drilling services has been demobilized. The Oyo-9 well was expected to add an additional 6,000 to 7,000 barrels of oil per day to the field’s current production.

Erin Energy has a 100% interest in offshore Oil Mining Leases (OML) 120, which contains the Oyo field. The field started production in December 2009 and the wells are connected to the Armada Perdana FPSO.

Elsewhere, following the recent decision of the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg concerning the maritime boundary dispute between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the company is working with the government of Ghana and its partners to progress the development activities in its ESWT block, offshore Ghana.

The ESWT block has three discovered fields with total in-place oil volume of 500MMstb. The 3D seismic data which will be acquired in 2Q 2018 will be used to improve subsurface definition and optimization of drilling targets.