Angola’s National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) has announced a new discovery at the Bavuca Sul-1 well on Block 15. The block is operated by ExxonMobil (36%) in partnership with Azule Energy (42%), Equinor (12%) and Sonangol E&P (10%).
ExxonMobil is currently executing a redevelopment programme on the block, following a June 2019 agreement with the ANPG to boost production. The operator is expecting to increase output by 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) by executing a multi-year drilling program and install new infrastructure technology to increase capacity of the existing flowlines.
The Valaris DS-9 drillship was contracted for the drilling campaign, under a 2-year contract from June 2022 to June 2024. Phase one of drilling is targeting 17 wells while Phase 2 targets about 20 wells. Valaris had already announced the drilling of the exploration well at the end of September 2022, but without providing further details.
“The well encountered 30 meters (98 feet) of high-quality sandstone containing hydrocarbons (…) at a water depth of 1,100 meters (3,608 feet),” the ANPG said today.
Bavuca Sul-1 marks the 18th discovery on Block 15, where the Kizomba A FPSO started producing in 2004 followed by the Kizomba B FPSO in 2005. No new discovery had been made on the block since that of Bavuca in 2003.