Deepwater Angola JV Hits Oil Pay

Eni S.p.A. on Wednesday reported what it calls a “major oil discovery” in the Agogo exploration prospect, which is located in Block 15/06 offshore Angola.

According to Eni, the deepwater Agogo-1 NFW discovery holds an estimated 450- to 650 million barrels of light crude oil in place. Agogo sits approximately 112 miles (180 kilometers) offshore and roughly 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) west of SBM Offshore and Sonangol’s N’Goma floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel (West Hub), noted the operator, which owns a 36.8421-percent stake in the well.

Transocean’s Poseidon drillship drilled Agogo-1 NFW in a water depth of 5,367 feet (1,636 meters) and reached a total depth of 14,600 feet (4,450 meters), Eni stated. The company added that the well provided a single oil column of approximately 666 feet (203 meters) with 394 feet (120 meters) of net pay of high-quality, 31-degree API oil in a subsalt diapirs setting in Lower Miocene sandstones. Well data indicate a production capacity exceeding 20,000 barrels of oil per day, Eni also noted.

Agogo marks the third commercial discovery since the Block 15/06 Consortium launched a new exploration campaign last year, stated Eni, whose partners in the joint venture include Sonangol P&P (36.8421 percent interest) and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.3158 percent.) Other Block 15/16 discoveries include Kalimba and Afoxe.

“The discovery opens new opportunities for oil exploration below salt diapirs in the north-west part of the prolific Block 15/06, thus creating new chances for unlocking additional potential value,” Eni said in its written statement emailed to Rigzone. “The mapping and the drilling of Agogo prospect has been possible through the use of Eni’s advanced and sophisticated proprietary seismic imaging technologies.”

Eni stated that it will work with its Block 15/06 partners to appraise the discovery and launch studies to fast-track development.