PRESS
RELEASE
Malabo – November 14th, 2011
The Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy is pleased to announce that First Oil was produced from the Aseng Field, Block I, Offshore Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea on November 6th, 2011, seven months ahead of schedule.
The oil production rate has steadily ramped up and as of Sunday 13th November has reached 50,819 Bbl/d of oil, as 4 subsea wells were brought online. The first tanker of oil from the Aseng field is expected to be offloaded in December 2011.
The Aseng Field is operated by Noble Energy on behalf of partners Atlas Petroleum International Limited, Osborne Resources Limited (a subsidiary of PA Resources) and Glencore Exploration (EG) Limited.
The Aseng FPSO will be operated and maintained by GEPsing Ltd., a Joint Venture between SBM and the National Oil Company of Equatorial Guinea GEPetrol.
The Aseng FPSO has an oil production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil per day, a gas handling capacity of 174 million cubic feet per day, a produced water handling and disposal capacity of 100,000 barrels of water per day and a water injection capacity of 150,000 barrels of water per day. The Aseng FPSO has a total cargo storage capacity of 1.5 million barrels.
The Minister Delegate of Mines, Industry and Energy, H.E Gabriel M. Obiang Lima stated ‘The production of First Oil from the Aseng Field marks a milestone in the development of oil production in the Equatorial Guinea part of the Douala Basin. The Aseng Field has achieved first production in less than 2 ½ years from sanction, seven months ahead of schedule and 13% below budget. The Alen gas-condensate project remains on schedule for first production in late 2013 with the recently announced Carla discovery in Block O and the 2008 Diega discovery in Block I anticipated to be developed through the Aseng infrastructure by 2015’