Development spending off Angola will peak at $750 million/year in 1993 and 1994 as operators start to implement plans to boost oil to 680,000 b/d in 1996 from 505,000 b/d last year.
And during the next 9 years, upstream spending will jump to $4.7 billion at 1992 prices, compared with $3.3 billion spent in the past 9 years, says County NatWest WoodMac.
The Edinburgh, Scotland, analyst says the previous record spending year occurred in 1987, when operators invested $530 million at 1992 prices.
Angolan exploration and appraisal drilling this year will slip from the 1991 record level of 36 wells to about 33 wells. The decline will be eased by first wells drilled on newly awarded Blocks 4, 6, and 7 operated by units of Ranger Oil Ltd., Conoco Inc., and Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine.
As exploration drops in more mature areas, activity will shift to frontier regions. As a result, drilling activity in the mid-1990s will be at least as high as the record levels of 1991, WoodMac predicts.
Drilling off Angola will account for about 26 wells in 1994. Elf, Ranger, and Conoco have a commitment to drill at least 19 wells on Blocks 3, 4, and 6.
Work obligations on other blocks are less certain. Contracts are expected to be signed for Blocks 1 and 2 and possibly Block 9 this year. Contracts on Blocks 3 and 8 operated by Conoco and Total may be renewed, and drilling on the acreage may begin in 1994.
The situation in Block 2 is complex.
Operator Texaco Inc., in partnership with Total, Angola's Sonangol, and Braspetro, drilled many small discoveries on the block. It is scheduled to place 17 fields on stream during the next 5 years, boosting production to 66,000 b/d in 1996-97 from the 1991 volume of 46,100 b/d.
Texaco is negotiating for production licenses to cover those developments. But Braspetro decided not to seek renewal of the exploration permit, leaving the other partners to renegotiate the license-possibly with new partners.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
Agip Angola has been running a test of the small Safueiro field in Block 1 as a satellite of Texaco's Essungo field in adjoining Block 2 (see map, OGJ, July 8, 1991, p. 20). A decision on continuing development of Safueiro's 7 million bbl reserve is due in April.
On Elf's Block 3, Impala and Cobo fields are under development. Nine more fields are lined up for development during the next 3-4 years, raising production to 185,000 b/d in 1995-96 from 161,800 b/d in 1991.
Two gas/condensate fields on the block are not included in current development plans. It is possible they will be part of a gas reinjection program later in the decade.
In Block 4, Ranger has a management services contract with Sonangol to provide technical assistance for development of the 4-24-1 and 4-26-1 oil discoveries. With combined reserves of about 30 million bbl, they could be producing about 17,000 b/d in 1996.
Onshore, Fina has reopened Cabeca daad Cobra field, sabotaged early in 1990. It will also reopen Galinda field, shut down since destruction of its tank farm in 1984.
Production from the onshore fields averaged 28,965 b/d last year. WoodMac said infill drilling and continuing implementation of secondary recovery will slow but not reverse a long term decline.
CABINDA ACTIVITY
Off Angola's Cabinda enclave, Chevron Corp. is expected to continue drilling five or six wells/year with drilling on deepwater Block 14, still not awarded, beginning in the mid-1990s.
Onshore drilling also is set to begin in Cabinda, where BP Exploration and Occidental Petroleum Corp. are expected to sign exploration contracts soon. Petrofina SA is negotiating for the third onshore block in Cabinda.
There has been no onshore drilling in Cabinda since Gulf Oil Corp. relinquished its acreage in 1971. There has been little onshore drilling in Angola because of disruptions caused by civil war.
Off Cabinda, Chevron expects to complete most of a development program on its Takula complex during 1992, hiking production to 287,000 b/d from 267,000 b/d in 1991.
Chevron last year completed a 400,000 b/d waterflood project and installed production platforms in Wamba and Numbi fields, Takula satellites, to eliminate production limits in those two fields caused by lack of capacity in Takula gathering stations.
More wellhead platforms were installed in Wamba and Numbi last year, and a final wellhead platform will be installed in Takula this year. Work on 36 production and injection wells is to be complete by yearend 1992.
Chevron has earmarked more offshore oil fields for development. Production from phased development of Bomboco and Kokongo fields is expected in mid-1994, followed by Nemba and Sanha/N'Dola. WoodMac said production rates are difficult to predict because appraisal is not complete and reserve estimates are tentative.
On a midrange reserve estimate of 635 million bbl, peak production of about 164,000 b/d could be expected in 1998.
Chevron also is expanding its onshore Malongo terminal. When the work is complete in May, the permanently moored storage tanker Afran Queen will be removed.
As a result, the company will end separate export shipments and marketing of two Cabinda crude blends: Takula and Malongo. There will be a single Cabinda blend. WoodMac said mixing the two will make little difference in price of the crude because Takula and Malongo are of very similar quality.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.