Vaalco Energy to drill sidetrack from dry hole offshore Gabon

Vaalco Energy Inc. will drill a sidetrack development well using the same well bore that encountered a dry hole in an Etame Marin block exploration well offshore Gabon.

Etame West ET-14P encountered 10 m of high-quality Gamba sands, in line with pre-drill predictions, but the target zone was water-bearing. Prior to drilling, the well had a 57% chance of geologic success.

The lower portion of the well will be plugged, but the upper portion of the well bore will be used to drill a sidetrack—the ET-14H development well—in the main fault block of Etame, pending partner approval. Operations are expected to be completed in April.

George Maxwell, Vaalco’s chief executive officer, said the company “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.”

Etame Marin block lies in Congo basin about 32 km off the coast of Gabon. The license area is spread over five fields covering about 187 sq km. Etame West ET-14P is part of the block’s Phase 3 drilling program.

Vaalco is operator of the block with 58.8% interest.