Marathon Extracts First Gas from Alba B3 Site

Marathon Oil Corporation announced a breakthrough at its new Alba B3 offshore compression platform off the coast of Equatorial Guinea.

The Houston-based company is optimistic the gas platform will yield some 130 million barrels of oil equivalent of proved undeveloped reserves. This will more than double Marathon’s remaining proved developed reserve base in the western African country.

“The Alba B3 compression project will allow us to maintain plateau production for the next two years, mitigating base decline, while extending the Alba Field’s life by up to eight years,” said Mitch Little, Vice President–Conventional for Marathon.

Built by Dutch firm Heerema Fabrication Group, the Alba B3 platform was installed last January approximately 32 kilometers off the coast from Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The site is expected to compress gas from the existing Alba B2 platform via a 33-meter-long bridge connection.

“I want to highlight that the platform was completed on time and within budget, reflecting strong project management and a close collaboration with the operations team in EG. My congratulations go out to our employees and our international and Equatoguinean business partners who made this success possible,” Little added.

According to Marathon’s website, the Alba Field is one of the largest producers of condensate and natural gas in the Gulf of Guinea. Product extracted from that site is sent to an onshore gas plant at Punta Europa for processing into products such as propane and butane.

Marathon’s MEGPL subsidiary holds a majority operating stake in the Alba Field (65 percent) while a division of Noble Energy, Samedan of North Africa, controls the remaining 35 percent.

By Erwin Cifuentes for Oilprice.com

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