Page 12 - AfrOil Week 33 2021

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PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil
ANGOLA
ITALY’S Eni confirmed last week that it had commenced development operations at Cuica, a newly discovered field within the Cabaça devel- opment area of Block 15/06 offshore Angola.
In a statement, Eni said it had begun extract- ing oil from the field on July 30. It reported that it was using tie-ins to send crude from the new field to the Armada Olombendo, a floating pro- duction, storage and off-loading (FPSO) unit that serves as the eastern hub of development work at Block 15/06.
The tie-ins link the development well and the water-injection well drilled at the field to an existing subsea production system at Cabaça North, it said. This production system transfers oil to the FPSO, which has been installed about 3 km away from Cuica, it noted.
It added that that the field was now yielding oil at anticipated levels but did not elaborate. According to previous reports, Cuica will pro- duce at least 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil, enough to keep the Armada Olombendo oper- ating at its capacity of 100,000 bpd.
The Italian company said oil was found at the field at Cuica-1, a well drilled in 500-metre-deep water, in March of this year. It also touted its suc- cess in bringing the field on stream in just a little over four months after discovery.
The launch of Cuica is “yet another example of Eni’s Angolan and worldwide extraordinary
exploration success that, driven by the princi- ple of Infrastructure Led Exploration (ILX) and combined with the application of an enhanced modular and streamlined development philos- ophy, is allowing Eni to translate exploration successes into production in the most efficient and effective way,” the statement said.
The Armada Olombendo is now handling crude oil from four fields – Cabaça, Cabaça South East and UM8, as well as Cuica. It is cur- rently supporting 12 wells and five manifolds in waters ranging from 400 to 500 metres deep. These numbers are due to rise in the fourth quarter of 2021, when the Cabaça North field is due to come on stream.
Cuica is the second find made within the Cabaça development area of Block 15/06 and the first commercial discovery at the licence area since the temporary suspension of drilling activities last year in response to the coronavi- rus (COVID-19) pandemic. The field appears to hold 200-250mn barrels of oil in place (OIP).
Equity in Block 15/06 is split between Eni, the operator, with 36.8421%; Sonangol P&P, an affiliate of the national oil company (NOC) Sonangol, with 36.8421%, and SSI Fifteen Ltd (Angola), with 26.3158%. The partners discov- ered five fields that contain around 2bn barrels of OIP – Agidigbo, Afoxé, Agogo, Kalimba and Ndungu – at the licence area in 2018-2020.™
The well is targeting a similar structure to the nearby discovery that was recently made at ASD-1X, with primary targets in the Abu Roash C and E reservoirs, and secondary targets in the deeper Bahariya and shallower Khoman Formations.
The ASX prospect had always ranked highly for UOG among the identified exploration tar- gets in Abu Sennan. With the de-risking pro- vided by the positive result at ASD-1X only 11km away, and the short timeframe in which
that discovery was put into production, the ASX-1X prospect has become a top-priority target for the company.
The ASX-1X is expected to be the final well of the 2021 campaign, with longer-term plans for unlocking the additional potential in the Abu Sennan licence currently under discussion.
UOG is a rapidly-growing full-cycle AIM- listed oil and gas company focused on low-risk production and development projects in Egypt, Italy and the UK. ™
Eni brings Cuica oilfield on line
Cuica is the second find made within the Cabaça development area of Block 15/06 (Image: Eni)
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 33 18•August•2021