Chad-Cameroon oil production behind design

Sept. 5, 2005
Production from the Chad-Cameroon export project has settled at 180,000 b/d, compared with a project design level of 225,000 b/d, said operator Esso Exploration & Production Chad Inc.

Production from the Chad-Cameroon export project has settled at 180,000 b/d, compared with a project design level of 225,000 b/d, said operator Esso Exploration & Production Chad Inc.

The project had shipped nearly 103 million bbl of Chadian crude in 111 tanker loads by the end of June 2005, the company said in a biannual report released in August. The oil, produced in southwestern Chad, moves by pipeline to export docks at Kribi, Cameroon.

The 15.5 million bbl exported in the quarter ended June 30 compared with more than 18 million bbl in the third and fourth quarters of 2004 (OGJ Online, Mar. 15, 2005).

The $276 million paid to the Chad government so far through oil revenue management escrow accounts in London exceeds the planned sum because of unusually high world crude oil prices despite the lower production level, the company said.

Esso Chad said the reported price for Chad’s heavy 21.1° gravity Doba blend crude was $38/bbl in the second quarter of 2005, $13.55/bbl lower than the benchmark Brent blend of the UK.

Chad oil price

It is not possible to predict whether the higher-than-expected revenue will continue because the worldwide oil market conditions that created them could shift at any time due to a “wide array of factors such as weather, the strong growth of individual country economies like China and India, and global political developments,” Esso Chad said.

Doba blend crude, partly because it has an acid number of 4.78 compared with .09 for Brent blend, is inherently more expensive to process in refineries for high value products, the company said. However, Doba oil contains 0.1% sulfur compared with Brent’s 0.42% and Mexico Maya’s 3.84%.

“Without sophisticated equipment, a refinery can only turn about one fifth of a barrel of Chad’s Doba blend oil into high value light products such as gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel,” Esso Chad said. This compares with two thirds of a Brent barrel.

The market has stagnated for heavier fuel oil, the primary product yielded by a barrel of Doba blend processed without costly sophisticated refinery equipment. Thus, Esso Chad said, Doba’s price is generally set by the fuel oil market and has been comparable to that of other world heavy crudes.

Augmenting production

Esso Chad and partners Petronas of Malaysia and Chevron have been working since the start of oil-field construction to augment production.

Efforts include infill drilling in the three main Doba basin fields, Kome, Miandoum, and Bolobo, improving well performance, and exploration.

The companies brought small Nya oil field online as of the end of June. Nya, near Miandoum, has 4 wells. Construction also started on 25-well Moundouli field 33 km west of the Miandoum gathering station.

Esso Chad is addressing the production characteristics of the original three fields, which have produced a higher proportion of water than originally expected. This consists of wireline logging to obtain reservoir data to block water zones and perform acid and frac treatments.

The company also discovered a field near Maikeri and was studying its commerciality. It was preparing for exploratory drilling near Sarh in the East Doseo basin.