Eni Discovers Offshore Oil in Angola's Kalimba Block

Italian oil major Eni has announced a new oil discovery in Block 15/06 in the Kalimba exploration prospect in Angola’s deep offshore.  The new discovery is estimated to contain between 230 and 300 million barrels of light oil in place, Trade Arabia reported.

The Kalimba-1 NFW well, which has led to the discovery, is located at approximately 150 km off the coast and 50 km South East from the Armada Olombendo FPSO (East Hub). The well was drilled by the West Gemini drillship at a water depth of 458 meters and reached a total depth of 1,901 meters.

The discovery opens new opportunities for oil exploration in the southern part of Block 15/06, so far considered mainly gas prone, thus creating new chances for additional potential value in the block, Eni said.

The joint venture, composed of Eni (operator, 36.8421%), Sonangol P&P (36.8421%) and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.3158%), will work to appraise the discovery and start studies to fast track its development. Angola is a key country in the strategy for the growth of Eni that has been present in the country since 1980 and currently accounts for an equity production of about 155,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

In Block 15/06, the two oil development projects, West Hub and East Hub, are currently producing about 150,000 barrels of oil per day (100%).  Eni is also the operator of Cabinda Norte Block, located onshore Angola.

"Angola has targeted an increase of about 250,000 barrels per day in oil output by 2020 and is already in discussions with oil majors ExxonMobil and Equinor to achieve this," said Sonangol’s Chairman of the Board Carlos Saturnino in an interview in Vienna.

"New energy legislation and more favorable investment terms have already spurred interest from international operators, including Chevron Corp. and Total SA."

Angola is working to roll back a sizable drop in its oil production this year due to technical problems at its mature fields and an inability to lure international operators.

Saturnino said the country is currently producing 1.55 million bpd, down from an average of 1.65 million bpd over the past year.