CAPITAL: MALABO
MONETARY UNIT: CFA FRANC
REFINING CAPACITY: N/A
OIL PRODUCTION: 107,000 B/D
OIL RESERVES: 12 BILLION BBL
GAS RESERVES: 1.3 TCF

Production began in the Rio Muni basin from Ceiba field on Nov. 22, 2000, less than 14 months after discovery. Production averaged 32,000 b/d for the first month from one well.

Ceiba field wells are in 2,165-2,621 ft of water on Block G 22 miles off Bata, Rio Muni, and 150 miles south of Malabo. Interests are Triton Energy Corp., Dallas, 85%, and Energy Africa Ltd., Cape Town, 15%.

Production was through the Sendje Berge floating production, storage, and offloading vessel moored in 300 ft of water 18 miles offshore in the Gulf of Guinea. Crude was sold from the vessel, which has 2 million bbl of storage.

Four wells were producing at yearend 2000. Triton set the goal of 80,000-100,000 b/d of production by yearend 2001 from 10 producing wells and four water injection wells.

Triton plugged the G2 exploration well 3 miles north of Ceiba field. It went to TD 15,214 ft and found three oil reservoirs with permeability inadequate for production. Drilled in 2,970 ft of water, it tested a different trapping mechanism at a deeper stratigraphic interval than Ceiba field.

Triton plugged the G3 exploration well in 1,900 ft of water more than 5 miles northeast of Ceiba-1. Drilled to TD 9,065 ft, it found Ceiba-quality reservoir sands that were water-bearing.

G4, in 800 ft of water 14 miles northeast of Ceiba-1, was to test a prospect at about 4,100 ft.

Triton's 2001 budget allocated $211 million for Ceiba development and appraisal and $42 million more for exploration on blocks F and G, which covered a combined 1 million acres.

Vanco Energy Corp. signed a production sharing contract on the 1.1 million acre Corisco Deep Block in 200-2,500 m of water. Corisco has a partial border with Triton's Block G, and its southern boundary is the border with Gabon.

Production was rising at Equatorial Guinea's key field, Zafiro on Block B. Zafiro and satellites, operated by ExxonMobil Corp., were averaging 135,000 b/d in late 2000, said participant Ocean Energy Inc., Houston. More than two dozen wells were producing.

Production began from the $560 million, 40 slot Jade platform, which Ocean called the largest fixed structure of its kind in West Africa. Jade is 35 miles west of Bioko.

The companies planned to drill the Oreja Marina prospect on Block C in early 2001. They planned further development on Block B in Zafiro field.

The country's other production was Alba gas and condensate field 18 miles north of Bioko Island in 250 ft of water.

A CMS Oil & Gas Co. group completed a program to hike gas production to 225 MMcfd from 90 MMcfd. Condensate output was to rise to 14,500 b/d versus 6,700 b/d earlier. The project would also yield 1,800 b/d of natural gas liquids.

About 120 MMcfd of gas was piped to a 2,500 tonne/day methanol plant on Bioko, 10 MMcfd was used for platform operations, and the rest was reinjected.

The Alba-7 well flowed 53 MMcfd of gas and 3,000 b/d of condensate, and Alba-8 flowed 27.5 MMcfd and 2,040 b/d. The methanol plant was to start up by second quarter 2001.

CMS said it was analyzing ways to further increase NGL and condensate production from Alba.