Trident Energy’s first drilling campaign in Equatorial Guinea
As part of Trident Energy’s multi-faceted plan to further develop our assets in Equatorial Guinea and add value for our stakeholders, we carried out our first drilling campaign and the only one in the country in 2021. The campaign consisted of three wells (OG-01, OB-15, and OB-14).
The first well
OG-01 was complex in terms of procuring and installing a standalone Tripod Platform at the location. Despite the logistical challenges faced during the planning phase of the project due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the spud of OG-01 was still met on time, with great credit to our teams and their exerted efforts to meet the objectives.
The top-hole section consisting of three cemented conductor piles and a top deck were installed with great collaboration between our drilling and project teams.
The remainder of the well was successfully drilled and completed with additional virgin pressure reservoir targets identified. The well is currently on stream under natural flow and is showing excellent results.
The story of two wells
The Vantage Sapphire Driller Jack Up Drilling Rig then made its way from OG-01 to our Okume Bravo platform, in preparation for the drilling of OB-14 and OB-15. The rig was positioned alongside Okume Bravo using a 4-anchor pattern.
The wells were batch drilled to allow for more efficient operations. Both top holes sections of OB-14 and OB-15 were faced with their own respective challenges, which were dealt with accordingly and efficiently. Good communication and collaboration between the Trident Drilling and Production teams were key during this phase to account for the significant collision risks involved when drilling new wells from a live producing platform. As such the wells were executed with minimal shut-in time of offset wells.
OB-15 was a challenging well even prior to execution, with months of planning required in the design phase to combat the expected high pore pressures due to water injection in the area. The well was drilled to total depth (TD) under managed pressure drilling conditions. It was subsequently logged with Stethoscope pressure points, despite a narrow pore pressure fracture gradient margin which was created from a fractured loss zone. The well showed promising reservoir sand targets with positive expectations of production viability. However, due to cross flows and clay collapse the well was plugged and abandoned in order to better manage the fractured zone versus the high-pressure layers with the intention to come back with a long-term suitable design.
Operations continued on OB-14 and it was drilled down to 1809m (8 ½” hole reservoir). The wellbore effectively drilled as per directional plan to well TD with prospective targets yielding positive anticipation for production.
With production performance above their respective high cases the new wells are performing well.
Despite the challenges brought by the COVID-19 restrictions, we managed to deliver two very good wells, with some excellent lessons learned to take forward into future drilling campaigns. Well done to the team!
