ExxonMobil aims next month to revive production from its mature Zafiro oil and gas field offshore Equatorial Guinea, but $3 billion will be needed to bring the asset up to scratch when the new operator takes over the reins.
In September 2022, safety problems forced the US supermajor to shut down production at the aged Zafiro Producer floating production unit, which caused oil production to plunge by about 30,000 barrels per day to some 15,000 bpd.
Since then, according to Equatorial Guinea’s Petroleum Minister Gabriel Obiang Lima, work has been under way to re-route production originally sent from the Jade platform to the FPU — which is set to be decommissioned — and instead pipe it to the newer Serpentina floating production, storage and offloading vessel.
