Ophir Energy has confirmed a successful Drill Stem Test (DST) on its Fortuna-2 well in deepwater Block R off Equatorial Guinea, which further firms up its plans for a Floating LNG facility there (see DI, 27 August 2014, page 1).

Ophir holds 80% of Block R, with GEPetrol holding the remainder. Ophir says the DST achieved a sustained flowrate of 60 MMcf/d with a drawdown of less than 20 psi. Based on the expected operating conditions of the FLNG facility, the well is estimated to have been able to deliver a production rate of circa180 MMcf/d via the 5-inch drillpipe that was used for the test.

The good flowrate is a strong indication, said Ophir, that the number of development wells required will be reduced from the seven initially assumed, improving the economics.

The Fortuna field has estimated mean recoverable resources of 1.3 Tcf and will form the first phase of the FLNG development. The total estimated mean recoverable resources of Block R, including the discoveries and adjacent de-risked volumes, are now 3.4 Tcf.

The next milestones for the development will be the agreement of gas fiscal terms, and the selection of the consortium to build, own and operate the mid-stream project. Both of these are anticipated by end 2014. The award of the upstream and midstream FEED contracts is planned in early 2015. FID is expected in 2016 and first gas in 2019.