Marathon Oil begins gas production at Alba B3 off Equatorial Guinea

Marathon Oil Corp. has started natural gas production at its Alba B3 compression platform at the Alba gas and condensate field, 32 km offshore Malabo in the Gulf of Guinea.

Production from the B3 platform allows Marathon Oil to convert 130 million boe of proved undeveloped reserves, more than doubling the company’s remaining proved developed reserve base in Equatorial Guinea.

“The Alba B3 compression project will allow us to maintain plateau production for the next 2 years, mitigating base decline, while extending the Alba field’s life by up to 8 years,” said Mitch Little, Marathon Oil vice-president, conventional.

Execution of the Alba B3 compression project involved engineering and construction in four countries with Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) serving as the general contractor.

The Alba B3 platform is connected by bridge to the existing Alba B2 platform, where gas and condensate are currently sent to an onshore gas plant at Punta Europa for processing into various products, including propane and butane.

Marathon Oil’s wholly owned subsidiary Marathon EG Production Ltd. is operator of Alba field with 63% working interest—65% with government carry. Samedan of North Africa LLC, a subsidiary of fellow Houston independent Noble Energy Inc., holds the remaining 35%.

Marathon also owns 52% interest in an Alba LPG plant, 45% interest in Atlantic Methanol Production Co. LLC and its plant that produces 3,000 gross tonnes/day of methanol, and 60% interest in a 3.7 million-gross-tonnes/year LNG production facility on Bioko Island.