Trident Energy Equatorial Guinea, has launched and commissioned a major project to convert 15 gas lift wells to electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) by the end of 2022, This is aimed at unlocking the geological capacity of our Okume complex. The Okume complex fields are a series of stratigraphically trapped deep water channel-levee complexes confined within our Elon and Okume canyons.

To prepare for the ESP conversion which will be taking place later this year, Okume’s central processing facilities (CPFs) have been upgraded to maximise the production capacity (separation, injection, and power generation).

Our local team in Equatorial Guinea managed every aspect of the project including project management, supply chain, logistics, and coordination. Starting this ambitious brownfield project in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic has required the team to overcome many challenges both technically and logistically. We have been impressed with their hard work as well as by the contractors, which were assigned under our local content strategy.

As part of the intensive preparation process, the team performed a series of tasks to ensure the project would proceed effectively and with a limited shutdown time. Therefore, each section of the Okume upgrade project was split into sub-projects, designed separately and then merged in a coherent way.

All the structural extensions were built on one platform (Bravo), while the electrical and processing modules were designed onshore in compact and lightweight pieces that could be assembled on-site (like Lego blocks), and the processing units were designed to meet the lifting capacity of the existing cranes. As a result, the automated update of the field was reduced to less than a 36-hour shutdown.  

This investment is a great illustration of Trident Energy’s strategy to unlock the true value of our mid-life oil and gas assets. We are now ready and prepared to begin the ESP conversion, which we will be announcing in due course. We want to say a huge thank you to our team in Equatorial Guinea for their hard work and timely delivery of this project.