Noble Venturer drillship (Credit: Trident Energy)
U.K.-based oil and gas company Trident Energy has welcomed Noble Corporation’s Noble Venturer drillship for a new drilling campaign offshore Equatorial Guinea, expected to begin shortly.
Trident Equatorial is the operator of Block G in the Ceiba and Okume complex fields offshore Equatorial Guinea.
The drilling campaign, which is expected to recommence shortly with Noble Venturer drillship, will comprise two infill wells located in water depths of 250 m and 740 m, before moving to Block S, operated by Kosmos, for an exploration well.
At Block S, Noble Venturer will be drilling the Akeng Deep ILX well, intended to test a play in the Albian, and targeting an estimated gross mean resource of around 180 million barrels of oil in close proximity to existing infrastructure at Block G
The contract was awarded to Noble Corporation for its drillship Noble Venturer on behalf of Trident Equatorial (operator, 40.375%) and joint venture partners, Panoro (14.25%), Kosmos Energy (40.375%) and GEPetrol (5.0%) in April 2024.
At the time, Noble Corporation said the drilling campaign is estimated to last 150 days.
Before awarding the contract for Noble Venturer drillship, Tident Energy on behalf of the partners canceled the previously agreed contract for the Island Drilling’s semi-submersible Island Innovator rig hired for the job, citing safety concerns.
“The arrival of the drillship is a milestone that demonstrates our ability to restart the drilling program very quickly. It affirms our commitment to unlock the potential of these fields and unleash further growth in Equatorial Guinea – safely, efficiently and responsibly. This will be a busy and exciting period for the company and look forward to getting underway,” said François Raux, COO at Trident Energy.
