The Island Innovator rig has been welcomed to Equatorial Guinea ahead of going to work for Trident Energy.
© Supplied by Equatorial Guinea MiThe director general of hydrocarbons, Robustiano Ndong Eyegue, and head of refined products, Francisco Ndong Ayong, represented the ministry at Luba for the rig’s arrival.
Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Hydrocarbons said the rig would carry out three wells for Trident, in addition to an exploration well.
Private equity-backed Trident expects the work to take nine months, starting in November. Also participating in the project are Kosmos Energy, Panoro Energy and Gepetrol.
In summer, Island Drilling reported Trident had exercised a third option for the rig, adding another 40 days to the duration. The company said this was on behalf of another operator in the country.
As a result, the drilling company said the rig would be in Equatorial Guinea for around 230 days. Trident also has another two options it could exercise.
Before heading to West Africa, the Island Innovator was working for Dana Petroleum in the UK.
Trident and Kosmos bought their Equatorial Guinea assets from Hess in 2017. Trident took over responsibility for the producing fields, Ceiba and the Okume complex, in Block G. Kosmos operates the exploration acreage, in Block S, Block W and EG-21.
Kosmos reported gross production in Equatorial Guinea of 24,000 barrels per day gross in the second quarter. In 2020, it was producing 33,600 bpd, falling to 29,900 bpd in 2021 and with a slight uptick to 30,900 bpd in 2022.
The listed company said work would begin with a two-well workover programme. It would bring the first of three infill wells online around the end of the first quarter in 2024.
Once the Island Innovator has carried out the infill drilling, it will drill an exploration well for Kosmos. The Akeng Deep ILX has an estimated gross resource of around 180 million barrels, the company said, in the deeper Albian trend. This exploration well is in Block S.
The rig stopped off on the way to Equatorial Guinea at the Hidramar shipyards, in the Canary Islands, which provided this video.