HUMPHREYS, NEIL V.,TIMOTHY A.WILLIAMS, GENE D. MONSON, and LANE C. BLUNDELL, Mobil Equatorial Guinea Inc.

Abstract: Technology Application as an Enabler for Rapid Development of the Zafiro Complex, Equatorial Guinea

The Zafiro Field has gained some renown within the industry as a fast track project, with less than 18 months from discovery to first production, in moderately deep water, remote from infrastructure. The application of technology made both the initial fast tract and ongoing rapid development possible.

When the Zafiro Field was discovered in March 1995, very little was known about it. The reservoir interval was about 100 ft. thick, with 75 ft. of net oil pay, 29° API gravity oil and excellent permeability and porosity. No fluid contacts were encountered. The well flowed at 10,500 BOPD.The discovery was made based on an amplitude anomaly on 2D seismic. Two additional prospects were identified nearby, the Opalo prospect across a major fault and the Topacio prospect across a saddle on a separate structure to the south. Because of the lower Pliocene paleogeography of the Niger Delta, it was assumed, and promptly confirmed by paleo-bathymetric data, that the reservoir was deposited in a deep water environment. Major uncertainties existed relative to the size of the accumulation, the nature and distribution of reservoir within it and its long term producibility.

This paper describes the application of technology, both conventional and new, to resolving those uncertainties and its impact on progressive development decisions, as well as some specifics of the reservoirs.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90923@1999 International Conference and Exhibition, Birmingham, England