VAALCO Energy Begins Avouma Production

VAALCO Energy

VAALCO Energy says that oil production has begun from the Avouma Field off the coast of Gabon in West Africa. The first of the two wells drilled to develop the field has been placed on a production test and is currently flowing at approximately 5,500 barrels oil per day. This well will be tested for seventy two hours, then shut in to gather pressure data, at which time the second well will be brought on stream for testing. Following completion of the second well test, both wells will be placed on production.

The oil flowing from the Avouma field is being loaded aboard the Etame Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility via a 10-mile-long pipeline. Construction of the last phase of the pipeline was completed last week with the installation of a flexible riser to connect the pipeline to the FPSO.

In July 2006, VAALCO projected that the Avouma field would produce approximately 10,000 barrels oil per day when all wells were fully operational. Avouma supplements production from VAALCO's nearby Etame field, where oil production continues at the rate of approximately 15,800 barrels oil per day.

Robert Gerry, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Avouma is our second field on the Etame Block to begin production. We are pleased that this project was completed on time and on budget in this tight market for oilfield services. We have additional opportunities within that block that we continue to pursue, including our Ebouri discovery, where we have commenced platform construction for installation later this year. We are also very positive about and making progress on plans for our properties near Angola, where we have signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for Block 05/06 offshore and have a 40% operator interest.

"In summary, VAALCO continues on track with its commitments to acquire niche energy properties that we believe have significant potential, as well as to explore for and profitably extract oil from those properties."

The Company's subsidiary VAALCO Gabon Etame, Inc. operates and owns a 28.07% interest in the Etame Field. Other field partners are Addax Petroleum Etame Inc. (31.36%), Sasol Petroleum West Africa (Ltd.) (27.75%), Sojitz Etame Limited (2.98%), PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (2.34%) and Tullow Oil Gabon SA (7.5%).