VAALCO Energy has completed drilling the ET-14P exploration well at the Etame field offshore Gabon as part of its Phase Three drilling program and plans to sidetrack the well to drill a development target.
The ET-14P well encountered 10 meters of high-quality Gamba sands in line with pre-drill expectations, but the target zone was found to be water-bearing.
VAALCO said the lower portion of the well will be plugged and abandoned. The existing wellbore will instead be used to drill the ET-14H development well in the Main Fault Block of Etame, pending partner approval.
Operations are expected to be completed in April.
“When we committed to drilling the Etame West exploration well, we knew there was the geologic risk of not encountering commercial sands but the size of the potential reservoir made it a risk worth taking.
“Furthermore, we purposely designed the well so we could still utilize the well bore to drill a development well into a known productive area if the sands were non-commercial. This side-tracked well should be completed in April,” said George Maxwell, Chief Executive Officer of VAALCO Energy.