Eni begins oil production at West Hub Development offshore Angola
Eni has started production of first oil from the West Hub Development Project in Block 15/06 offshore Angola, approximately 350 km northwest of Luanda and 130 km west of Soyo.
The field is currently producing 45,000 bbl of oil per day (bopd) through the N’Goma FPSO, with production ramp-up expected to reach a daily production of up to 100,000 bopd in the coming months. The start-up of the East Hub Development, expected in 2017, will raise overall production from Block 15/06 to 200,000 bpd.
The development project started with an exploration campaign, having won the international bid round in 2006. Eni drilled 24 exploration and appraisal wells, discovering more than 3 billion bbl of oil in place and 850 million bbl of reserves. The discoveries were then developed quickly and efficiently with a new modular development model, achieving an industry-leading time to market of only 44 months from commercial discovery. The West Hub Development entails the sequential start-up of the Sangos, Cinguvu, Mpungi, Mpungi North Area, Vandumbu and Ochigufu fields.
Eni will continue its exploration program in Block 15/06. The Ochigufu discovery, which added 300 million bbl of oil in place, will be tied in to the N’Goma FPSO within the next two years.
“The start-up of the West Hub in Angola is a milestone in Eni’s upstream activities,” Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said. “Starting from an extraordinary exploration success we have achieved an industry-leading time to market of only four years from the declaration of commercial discovery. This result reflects a new modular development model, which adds value to our strategy of organic growth. The start up of the West Hub is also significant in terms of Eni’s presence in Angola, where (Eni is) again operator of a major producing project.”
Eni is operator of the Block 15/06 with a 35% stake, and Sonangol EP is the concessionaire. The other partners of the joint venture are Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção (35%), SSI Fifteen Ltd (25%) and Falcon Oil Holding Angola SA (5%).
Angola is a key country in the strategy of organic growth of Eni, which has been present in the Country since 1980 with a daily production in 2013 of 87,000 bbl of oil equivalent.
