US major Chevron has won the final approval of Angolan authorities to operate two more acreages in the country.
By signing risk contracts on Blocks 49 and 50 with the regulator ANPG, and the state hydrocarbon company Sonangol P&P, the San Ramon, California based firm holds four licences, including the shallow water Block O, and the deepwater Block 14.
It’s the farthest deepwater that Chevron has ever gone in the southwest African country. Blocks 49 and 50 are located in water depths from 2,200metres to 3, 600metres. That’s incomparable with the 400metre to 1,700metre water depths for Block 14, Chevron’s only operated deepwater block in Angola.
“These two Blocks are located in the ultra-deep waters of the Lower Congo Basin and, due to the geological conditions, present increased operational complexity, associated with a high research risk, which is the reason that led to the signing of risky service contracts”, the ANPG says in a press release.
Cheron’s first drilling in Angola was onshore, at Ponta Vermelha, in 1958. The company’s offshore discovery was made in 1966 on the Malongo Field, followed by first oil in 1968. The Takula Field was later discovered in 1971.
Although there hasn’t been exploration yet on the new blocks, let alone clarity for field development, ANPG claims that “the investment in each of these blocks is valued at 3.6Billion dollars, with each of these expected to blocks will produce around 200 thousand barrels/day”. The Angolans are incurable optimists.
Diamantino Azevedo, the country’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, challenged Chevron and Sonangol “to complete the exploration stage in record time and thus reach the production phase with additional milestones”. He made the call, he said, “not because we think it will be an easy task; rather because we believe in your maturity and technological mastery, combined with the long history of achievements in the Angolan oil sector.
“We are aware that Blocks 49 and 50 are located in areas with high research and operational risk, due to the geological conditions in this area of the Lower Congo Basin. Tax incentives are more than justified”, he stressed.