Page 12 - AfrOil Week 49 2021

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Rycroft also drew attention to Gabon’s dream of the pre-salt plays in Gabon but without the
of finding pre-salt oil reserves analogous to the success to date to replicate the discoveries of
finds offshore Brazil, on the other side of the Brazil. Early signs suggest that there are positive
Atlantic Ocean. indications, but there remains a long way to go
“One such well now under way is Petronas’ before the industry can confidently proclaim
follow-up to the earlier Ivela discovery in the success.
portion of the Lower Congo Basin: Jove Marine, He also talked up the economic benefits of
which lies in Gabonese waters, targeting the pre- a new oil find, saying: “In the wake of fiscal and
salt potential of the Gamba and Dentale forma- regulatory instability in Gabon, it would be a
tions,” Rycroft commented to NewsBase. “The strong result for the country if it was to deliver
industry has long been attracted to the potential with the drill bit.” ™

TotalEnergies starts up CLOV

Phase 2 offshore Angola

ANGOLA CLOV Phase 2, an oil development project tar- averaged 90,000-120,000 bpd in recent years,
geting a section of Block 17 offshore Angola, according to S&P Global Platts estimates.
has begun production, the National Oil, Gas Angola, an OPEC member, has seen its crude
and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) announced on production drop steadily over the past five years
Thursday, December 2. as a result of technical and operational problems
The project, which is Angola’s second field to at a several fields. Additionally, some of its larg-
come online in the past week, comprises seven est offshore fields are maturing.
wells and has an estimated resource base of “The start of Phase 2 of CLOV comes at
55mn barrels of oil. Production is expected to the right time and with the right objective, as
peak at 40,000 barrels per day (bpd). Angola needs to mitigate the decline in its oil
Block 17 is operated by France’s TotalEn- production and work to increase it in the near
ergies (38%), which is partnered by Norway’s future,” ANPG’s head Belarmino Chitangueleca
Equinor (22.16%); ExxonMobil of the US (19%); said last week.
BP Exploration Angola Ltd (15.84%), a subsidi- In the past seven months, several new fields
ary of BP (UK); and Sonangol P&P (5%), a sub- have come on stream. These have included BP’s
sidiary of Angola’s national oil company (NOC) 30,000 bpd Platina field, and the 15,000 bpd
Sonangol. Cabaca North and 10,000 bpd Cuica projects
Production from CLOV Phase 1 has assigned to Eni (Italy). ™

CLOV is the fourth deepwater development at Block 17 (Photo: TotalEnergies)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 08•December•2021