Oil flows from second well off Gabon as Borr rig spuds third one

Oslo-listed oil and gas E&P company BW Energy has brought on stream the second well in its drilling campaign offshore Gabon. In addition, the drilling operations on the third well in this multi-well programme are now underway.

According to BW Energy, the production from the second well of the Hibiscus/Ruche Phase 1 development in the Dussafu licence offshore Gabon has now started and the performance from this well has been in line with expectations. The production level is currently stabilised at approximately 6,000 barrels per day.

The company explains that DHIBM-4H well was drilled with Borr Drilling’s Norve jack-up rig as a horizontal well from the BW MaBoMo production facility to a total depth of 4,800 metres into Gamba sandstone reservoirs on the Hibiscus field. Following completion, the Norve jack-up rig began drilling the third production well (DHIBM-5H).

Carl Krogh Arnet, the CEO of BW Energy, remarked: “We continue to progress the Hibiscus/Ruche drilling campaign with excellent HSE performance. We still have several wells to complete which will deliver successive production growth in Gabon through 2023 and into early 2024.”

Meanwhile, BW Energy confirms that the commissioning and testing of the second gas lift compressor are ongoing on the FPSO BW Adolo. The compressor, which will support production from the six Tortue wells, is expected to start its final commissioning phase in the next few weeks and, once fully operational, will add another 3,000 barrels per day.

Located approximately 20 kilometres northwest of the Tortue field, BW Energy’s Hibiscus/Ruche development project off Gabon targets the Hibiscus and Ruche fields. The Hibiscus/Ruche Phase 1 drilling campaign targets four Hibiscus Gamba and two Ruche Gamba wells, which are expected to add approximately 30,000 barrels per day of total oil production when all wells are completed in early 2024.

The drilling operations on the first well in this project kicked off at the start of the year, following the installation of the BW MaBoMo production facility, risers, and pipelines. At the beginning of April 2023, the drilling and completion operations on this well were completed and the first oil was achieved a few days later. The oil produced at Hibiscus/Ruche is transported by pipeline to the FPSO BW Adolo for processing and storage before offloading to oil tankers. 

In a separate statement, Panoro Energy, which holds a 17.5 per cent working interest in the Dusafu Marine permit, confirmed that the DHIBM-4H production well at the Hibiscus Ruche Phase I development offshore Gabon was drilled, completed, and handed over to production operations without incident.

Based on the firm’s statement, the well encountered good quality oil-saturated reservoir sands in the regionally prolific Gamba formation and has been put on stream at a stabilised rate of approximately 6,000 bopd, in line with expectations.

John Hamilton, CEO of Panoro, commented: “The completion of the second Hibiscus well is another significant step forward in our organic growth plan.  With two wells now on stream at the Hibiscus field Panoro’s group production is moving towards the 10,000 bopd level, keeping us on track to achieve group production of 13,000 bopd net to Panoro when all six new Hibiscus Ruche Phase I wells are on stream.”