| Licence | EG-08 |
| Europa interest | 42.9% |
| Partners | Antler Global Ltd |
| Area km2 | 73.1 |
| Basin | Douala Basin |
| Play | Miocene/Oligocene Douala/Rio Muni Petroleum System |
| Term | Two-year drill or drop |
Block EG-08 offshore in the Douala Basin of Equatorial Guinea is held by Antler Global Ltd, a company that was set up specifically to acquire the EG-08 block which is effective from October 2023, with 80% working interest in the EG-08 production sharing contract with Guinea Ecuatorialde Petroleos (“GEPetrol”), the National oil company, holding the remaining 20%.
EG-08 has three high-graded prospects which we assess to have similar AVO characteristics to the Alen and Aseng fields and other discoveries in Chevron’s Blocks O and I immediately to the south.
The AVO story is very compelling and, accordingly, we estimate the chance of success is estimated at 60-70% for the three prospects. Volumes across the three identified prospects are estimated at mean prospective resources of 1.3 TCFE (this figure includes the gas and liquids). Together, these three prospects when combined provide over a 90% chance of finding a commercial discovery and, as such, this is a high quality, low risk and high reward asset in shallow water with modest well costs.
A successful discovery in EG-08 could be developed quickly with possible offtake to Chevron’s nearby Alen platform (9km), where hydrocarbons will be processed, transhipped, and exported through the Chevron infrastructure to an FPSO to export liquids with gas going via the Chevron pipeline to the Alba gas plant facility on Bioko Island.
The initial phase of the licence is a two-year drill or drop. During this period, Antler intends to refine the existing 3D seismic data and begin a farm out process. There then follows a two-year second period, two one-year extension periods and a development phase. The PSC is typical for Equatorial Guinea whereby the state has a carried 20% interest and a royalty and profits share depending on production.
The prospects are covered with 3D seismic and lie in approximately 80m of water with the reservoir targets at around 2800m which is drillable with a jack-up rig. The three prospects on EG-08 have been defined using standard Amplitude Variation with Offset (AVO) techniques and, within this area nine exploration wells have been drilled using the AVO techniques since 2005, of which eight are discoveries.
Volumes across the 3 identified prospects are estimated at mean prospective resources of 1.3 TCFE (gas and condensate).
There is significant upside within EG-08, both shallower and deeper in the section, which would be the subject of technical work in the first phase of the licence.
Existing infrastructure lies to the south with the Alen platform (c9km to the south) and the Aseng FPSO (c30km to the south). Discoveries in Block EG-08 would be developed by separation of fluids into gas and liquids at a small platform at the discovery site or via subsea tie backs to the Alen platform directly. Gas would be piped to the nearby Alen platform and liquids to the Aseng FPSO. The gas would then be exported via pipeline to the Alba gas facility on Bioko Island for further liquid extraction and gas sales, including LNG. If an oil discovery is made production could be via an FPSO. Both Alen and Aseng have been producing for several years and the Alba processing plant is below capacity.
Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony, consists of the mainland, Rio Muni, and five islands including Bioko, where the capital Malabo is, and the Alba gas plant, is located.
Equatorial Guinea is one of sub-Sahara’s biggest oil and gas producers and is a member of OPEC. The giant Alba gas field (4.6 TCF) was discovered in 1984 and brought onstream in 1991. Marathon is operator plus associated gas processing infrastructure producing LPG, methanol and LNG products. The giant Zafiro oil field (1.2 BBBLS) was discovered in 1995 by Mobil and began production in 1996. Thereafter, exploration activity accelerated with several oil, condensate and gas discoveries being made at Ceiba & Okume (Triton, then Hess), Alen & Aseng (Noble, now Chevron) between 2001 and 2007 all of which are now on production. In the last decade or so little exploration activity has taken place however there is renewed interest in the area with block awards in 2023 including Chevron who have licenced two blocks in November 2023 and to Africa Oil.