Eland Oil & Gas says Opuama-3 outputs 330,000bbl since January

West Africa-focused Eland Oil & Gas said following the re-start of output in January the OML 40 has now produced more than 330,000 barrels of oil, from the Opuama-3 well only.

To date, more than 160,000 barrels of oil had been delivered to the export terminal with about a further 160,000 barrels ready for imminent injection.

"The company has monetised 154,173 barrels of crude at an average price of $52.14 per barrel, with cash receipts of over $8m. The company expects to monetise the next 160,000 barrels in the coming weeks."

Eland added that production was temporarily halted to allow maintenance on the FPSO, and was expected to resume production by the end of next week.

Water handling at Opuama field would begin in April through the installation of a three-phase separator, allowing the commencement of production from well Opuama-1.

"Production is expected to be about 11,500 bopd from Opuama-1 and Opuama-3 following the resumption of production and optimising," said Eland.

Further, Eland said it was planning to start the workover and side-track of Opuama-7 well by the end of first-half 2017, anticipating it will initially add an additional 6000 bopd to OML 40 production.

"We also expect to commence the workover of Gbetiokun-1 in H2 2017, which we expect will deliver at least a further 7800 bopd to production," the company said.

Furthermore, Eland said it expected to begin development of the Ubima early production system at the end of the Nigerian wet season in September and upon completion of road and wellsite preparation.

Following on from its assessment of the production potential of Gbetiokun-1, Eland said it had carried out an integrated technical evaluation of a full development of the Gbetiokun field.

"An initial development comprising six new production wells targeting the deeper reservoirs, together with Gbetiokun-1, is forecast to produce more than 50 MMB," Eland said.

"A second phase of development, comprising six further production wells targeting the shallower reservoirs, has the potential to produce a further 15 MMB."

Eland said its reservoir models indicated these wells could deliver a peak production rate of over 50,000 bopd.

At 12:51 GMT, shares in AIM-traded Eland were up 4.89% to 48.25p each.