Oil companies drill deeper to exploit new offshore finds
Hopes to raise Angolan output after two concessions yield a flow of oil discoveries and attract a raft of international companies to invest and develop them

abinda’s oil and gas riches have been welcome news for the US oil company Chevron. Its good fortune was to have been chosen as the operator of two highly-productive concessions in waters off the coast.
The two concessions, Blocks 0 and 14, have turned up one promising oil field after another in recent years.
With the so-called Cabinda complex of oil fields on Block 0 producing a little under 500,000 bpd, most attention has now shifted to developments in neighboring Block 14.
The block, covering an area of 1,560 square miles, has yielded a veritable flow of new oil discoveries since Chevron was appointed operator in 1995 and began drilling the following year.
Chevron has a 31 percent interest in Block 14. The Angolan state oil and gas company Sonangol, Italy’s Agip, and the TotalFinaElf group of France each have 20 percent shareholdings. Portugal’s state-owned oil firm Petrogal holds the remaining nine percent.

The Block 14 partners are fully aware of the concession’s potential. Just one year after Chevron first embarked on its drilling program, the company came across its first big find there.
Kuito, Angola’s first deepwater oil field, was brought onstream in December 1999 and is now producing about 70,000 bpd.

Advanced technology

The field was developed using advanced technology, designed to make production possible in water more than a mile deep. The wells are fixed to the seabed, and feed oil and gas to processing and storage units floating on the surface. The oil is then loaded onto tankers from offshore mooring buoys.
Industry analysts say that Kuito could produce oil at a higher rate if the authorities allow the Block 14 consortium to develop the field in conjunction with other nearby discoveries.

These additional oil fields include Benguela and Belize, both discovered in 1998 and located sufficiently close to each other to be regarded as a single entity.
Preparations are now under way to develop Benguela/Belize, with a target production rate of around 140,000 bpd. The oil companies want the fields to enter production in 2004, although this schedule depends on securing approval from the Angolan government.
Block 14 continues to be as prolific as ever, producing yet more reserves. Last year saw two more discoveries at the Tomboco and Lobito fields. Industry authorities say Tomboco contains 100 million barrels of oil and suggest Lobito may have even higher reserves.
The giant South Korean group, Samsung Corporation, last year agreed to carry out a $1.7 billion oil and gas project, including offshore production platforms and storage facilities in the province. Samsung’s partner in the venture is French company, Stolt Offshore.

While some officials say Angola is aiming for a big boost in oil production over the next few years, others indicate that it is inclined to push projects along gently.
According to senior officials at Sonangol, the government hopes to raise Angolan oil production to
1.3 million bpd – roughly twice the current rate – within the next five years. This would require several projects to go ahead very soon.
Angolan oil minister, Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, says his government wants to consider and approve each oil field project one at a time, in order to conserve oil and gas reserves by slowing down the current rate of development.