Ea (Sea Eagle)

Profile for Ea (Sea Eagle) Oil and Gas Field

Location

The Ea (Sea Eagle) Oil and Gas Field is located offshore in Nigeria, specifically in the south-eastern section of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 79. It is approximately 90 km southeast of Warri and 15 km from the mouth of the Dodo River in Bayelsa State. The field operates at a water depth range of 13 to 30 meters.

Project Details

• Operator: The field is operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
• Ownership: The ownership is shared among the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (55%), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (30%), TotalEnergies E&P Nigeria Limited (10%), and Eni S.P.A. (5%).
• Discovery Year: The field was discovered in 1965.
• Production Start Year: Production began in 2002.

Facilities and Infrastructure

• FPSO: The main facility is a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel named “Sea Eagle”. This FPSO is designed to produce 170,000 barrels per day (b/d) of gross fluids and 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas. The vessel has a storage capacity for 1.4 million barrels of oil and can handle 95,000 b/d of produced water.
• Platforms and Pipelines: The development includes three existing platforms (DPA, DPB, and DPJ) and a new platform (DPC). The project involves drilling new wells and connecting them to the existing platforms and pipeline system. The gas is exported through the offshore gas gathering system (OGGS) to the Bonny NLNG plant.

Production

• Oil Production: The field produces crude oil at various rates, with recent data showing:
  • 20 million barrels per year (bbl/y) in 2018.
  • 18.28 million bbl/y in 2022.
  • 6.9 million bbl/y in 2021.
  • 9.54 million bbl/y in 2020.
• Gas Production: The field produces approximately 192.94 million cubic meters of gas per year (m³/y) as of 2015.

Reserves

• The oil reserves at the Ea (Sea Eagle) field are estimated to be around 350 million barrels as of 2000.

Development and Operations

• Development Plan: The field was developed with a plan that included drilling 55 wells. The first phase involved constructing three platforms and several subsea pipelines/umbilicals, in addition to the FPSO and its associated mooring system.
• Engineering and Construction: The engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract was awarded to Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR). The project involved global execution across multiple locations including Nigeria, the UK, Monaco, the US, Korea, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore.
• Environmental Impact Assessment: An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted to address the environmental issues associated with the development. This assessment included evaluating potential significant and adverse environmental effects and proposing mitigation measures.

Milestones

• First Oil: The project achieved first oil on December 14, 2002, one week ahead of schedule.
• Gas Compression System: The focus in 2003 was on commissioning the gas compression system to integrate the offshore gas gathering system with the Bonny Island NLNG facility, expected to be completed in the first or second quarter of 2003.

Future Development

• Further Oil Development: There are plans for further oil development in the EA/EJA fields, which include drilling new wells and optimizing the use of existing platforms and infrastructure. This involves the use of new technologies such as Conductor Sharing/Splitter Wellheads Systems to maximize the use of existing platform slots and reduce project development costs.