VAALCO Energy has reported progressive operational results for the first quarter of 2025 across its African drilling campaigns in Egypt, Gabon, and Côte d’Ivoire. The company’s first quarter results have disclosed the acquisition of a 70% Working interest in the CI-705 block and will now become the operator of the block in offshore Côte D’Ivoire

Egypt

The start of the 2024 drilling campaign was deferred until late 2024. In Q4 2024, the company completed one well. In Q1 2025, it completed an additional five wells. Four of the five wells that were completed in Q1 2025 were brought online and had an average initial production rate for the first 30 days of approximately 135 barrels of oil per day (BOPD).

The fifth well was brought online in early Q2 2025. In addition to all new wells successfully increasing production levels, new reserves and a new production zone were discovered in the Bakr formation. The Company is reviewing several options to improve flow as the reservoir contains heavier oil.

The Company continues to perform detailed technical reviews of its newly drilled and existing wells while also continuing to work on enhancing production through a series of planned workovers and recompletions.

Gabon

The Company secured a drilling rig in December 2024 in conjunction with its 2025/2026 drilling program, which is planned to begin in Q3 2025 to drill multiple development wells, and appraisal or exploration wells, as well as to perform workovers, with options to drill additional wells.

Vaalco plans to drill the wells at both the Etame platform and at the Seent platform, and perform a re-drill and several workovers in the Ebouri field to access production and reserves that were previously shut in and removed from proved reserves due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide (“H₂S”).

In Q1 2025, Vaalco conducted an extended flow test on the Ebouri 4-H well to gather information on the H₂S concentrations at this location to aid in equipment design and to evaluate Vaalco’s chemical crude sweetening process.

The well has flowed for over four months, and the H₂S concentration is within modeling expectations, demonstrating Vaalco’s ability to treat the oil. The well has provided additional production, with some additional operating costs associated with the chemical treatment, adding to the Company’s strong first quarter results.

Côte d’Ivoire

As part of the planned dry dock refurbishment, the Baobab Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (“FPSO”) ceased hydrocarbon production on January 31, 2025 and the final lifting of crude oil from the FPSO took place in February 2025. The vessel departed from the field in late March 2025 and is now currently under tow to the shipyard in Dubai for the refurbishment.

Significant development drilling is expected to begin in 2026 after the FPSO is expected to return to service with potential meaningful additions to production from the main Baobab field in CI-40, as well as a potential future development of the Kossipo field, which is also on the license.

In March 2025, Vaalco announced that it had farmed into the CI-705 block offshore Côte d’Ivoire. Vaalco is the operator of the block with a 70% WI and a 100% paying interest through a commercial carry arrangement and is partnering with Ivory Coast Exploration Oil & Gas SAS and PETROCI.

The CI-705 block is located in the prolific Tano basin and is approximately 70 kilometers (“km”) to the west of Vaalco’s CI-40 Block, where the Baobab and Kossipo oil fields are located, and 60 km west of ENI’s recent Calao discovery. Block CI-705 covers approximately 2,300 km² and is lightly explored with three wells drilled to date on the block.

The water depth across the block ranges from zero to 2,500 meters. Vaalco has invested $3 million to acquire its interest in the new block, which it believes has significant prospectivity.