Glencore’s oil production has risen 8% during the first three quarters of the year over the same period in 2018.
Output reached 3.64 million barrels, around 13,330 barrels per day the trader said, driven by higher volumes in Chad and first oil from Cameroon’s Bolongo block. Offsetting these increases, production in Equatorial Guinea has continued to decline. The same three quarters of 2018 saw volumes of 3.36mn barrels, or around 12,260 bpd.
Equatoguinean volumes actually increased by 6% in the third quarter of this year, against the same period for 2018. But on a year to date basis, production to the trader reached 1.3mn barrels, against the 1.38mn barrels in 2018.
Chad saw significant gains, with output in the third quarter up at 884,000 barrels, against the 654,000 barrels in the same period of 2018 – a rise of 35%. Over the full three quarters, output was up 14% at 2.27mn barrels.
The Bolongo block started producing in the third quarter, providing gross volumes of 216,000 barrels – averaging around 2,400 bpd – during the period, of which 75,000 was Glencore’s share. The area lies in the shallow water of the eastern Rio del Rey Basin. Cameroon’s Societe Naturale des Hydrocarbures (SNH) has previously said the project should reach 10,000 bpd.
Glencore sold a 50% stake to Perenco in January 2018, which also took over as operator. Production comes from the Oak well, where a discovery was made in 2012. Perenco is a major player in Cameroon, where it produces 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which includes 51,000 bpd of oil. The company also has a floating LNG (FLNG) project in the country, which began producing in 2018.
Perenco was reported to have begun the re-entry of the Oak South well in July, with plans to follow with a development well. A presentation from Glencore in 2014 put recoverable resources at 30-100mn barrels in Bolongo.
Tower Resources has set out plans to drill a well neighbouring the Bolongo block, on its Thali block. The NJOM-3 well is planned for the end of the year, with the expectation of first oil in the second half of 2020.