Trident Energy has signed up a rig from Island Drilling for work offshore Equatorial Guinea.
The Island Innovator will go to work off West Africa, starting in September or October in 2023. It will provide two firm wells and five optional wells.
If Trident exercises all the options, the work should take around 250 days.
“We are very pleased to be selected by Trident as their first choice to provide drilling services in a market with several available semisubmersibles,” said Island Drilling CEO Roger Simmenes.
“We believe the performance we have shown with the wells in the UK has been noticed. It is our opinion the operators see that it does not always pay off to use the biggest and most expensive rigs. We live for smart solutions and will make sure to deliver beyond expectations.”
Island Drilling warm stacked the Island Innovator rig in early 2020. This will be its third third contract in Africa since reactivation. The rig is currently on its way to South Africa, where it will drill the Gazania well for Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas.
Trident acquired the Ceiba and Okume projects in Equatorial Guinea from Hess. It works in the country with Kosmos Energy. Trident focuses on the producing areas, while Kosmos handles exploration.
Extension unlocked
In the second quarter, Trident said it had extended the production-sharing contract (PSC) on Block G. It will now run to the end of 2040. Ceiba had been due to expire in 2029 and Okume in 2034. The block produces around 35,000 barrels per day of oil, down from the 42,000 bpd when Hess sold the asset.
Trident Equatorial Guinea general manager Arthur de Fautereau said the extension gave the company the certainty it needed.
“There are exciting times ahead and we are already preparing a drilling campaign of three deep offshore production wells, scheduled to start by the end of 2023,” de Fautereau said in May. “We estimate the extension will add 19 Mbbls of reserves to the block.”
Trident commissioned a $57 million project in June on upgrading the Okume complex.