Ceiba Field

The Ceiba Field was discovered in October 1999 and first production was achieved in November 2000, less than 14 months from discovery. Initial production during 2001 was from 5 wells into the Sendje Berge FPSO (Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading vessel). In January 2002, this vessel was replaced by the Sendje Ceiba which has a liquids processing capacity of 160,000 bpd and facilities to inject up to 135,000 bwpd into the Ceiba reservoir to maintain field pressure and optimise oil recovery. Field development will then comprise 10 producing wells and 4 water injector wells. Oil production is expected to average 65,000 bpd during 2002.

Zafiro Field

The Zafiro Field complex produces around 155,000 bopd and 70 mmcfd of gas via the Zafiro Producer and Jade Platform facilities. Zafiro was discovered in 1995 and was brought on stream within eighteen months of discovery. Facilities have been expanded each year since production commenced. In 2000, the Zafiro Producer FPSO was converted to an FPU (Floating Production Unit) with crude oil being stored in the MT Magnolia FSO (Floating Storage and Offloading vessel), which has a storage capacity of 1.8 million bbls. Gas is separated from the oil on board the FPU and the oil is sent to the FSO where it is stored until it can be exported to tankers via a Single Point Mooring (SPM) system. In December 1999 a 60,000 bopd fixed platform facility (Jade) was installed. By May 2001 production from Jade had reached capacity at 50,000 bopd. Gas is separated from the crude on the platform and the oil exported via pipeline to the Zafiro FPU. During 2002, the southern part of the field will see development via sub-sea completions into an additional FPSO which should lead to a production increase to over 220,000 bopd during 2003.

Alba Field

Alba is a gas condensate field with reserves in excess of 4.6 TCF. The Alba Field was discovered in 1983 but was not placed on production until 1991 when it was developed solely for its condensate production by Walter International Inc.. By 1995, when Nomeco acquired Walter, Alba was producing at a rate of around 65mmcfd to yield over 6000 bpd of condensate with all the gas being flared. During 2000 CMS (who had acquired Nomeco) drilled the Alba -6, -7 and -8 development wells and by mid 2001 Alba was producing over 195 mmcfd, to generate 14,000 bcpd and 2,000 bbls LPG/day. The processed gas supplies a new methanol plant which is designed to produce at a rate of 19,000 bpd from with minimal gas flaring. In January 2002, Marathon Oil acquired the CMS interests in Equatorial Guinea and has ambitious plans for the expansion of Alba production.