As previously announced, the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) upgrade is intended to improve water processing capacity at the facility, enabling Vaalco to increase production by 10% to 25,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) by 2008 year-end.
Vaalco also announced that the barge carrying its platform for the Ebouri field has arrived in Gabon. Plans call for the platform to be tied back via a pipeline to the FPSO facility that also serves Vaalco’s Etame and Avouma-Tchibala fields.
Upon completion of the construction for the production pipeline, Vaalco will begin installing the platform. The drilling rig is expected to arrive in October 2008.
Vaalco said that it remains on schedule to commence drilling the Ebouri development with oil production expected in December 2008 at an initial rate of 4,000-6,000 bpd.
Robert Gerry III, chairman and CEO, said: The equipment exchange from the transportation vessel onto the FPSO went flawlessly, and we were able to restart our fields in less than two days.
