By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 27 -- ChevronTexaco Corp.'s Angola-based affiliate, Cabinda Gulf Oil Co., has made another significant discovery on its 1,560 sq mile deepwater Block 14, off the enclave of Cabinda, Angola. The discovery marks the company's ninth discovery to date on the prolific block. The new find, Negage, is the latest in a string of discoveries on the block, dating back to the initial discovery of Kuito in 1997, followed by Landana, Benguela, Belize, Tomboco, Lobito, Tombua, and in early 2002, Gabela.
Negage was drilled in 4,738 ft of water 29 miles southwest of ChevronTexaco's existing Gabela discovery. The well encountered a hydrocarbon column greater than 320 ft, producing more than 8,630 b/d of 33° gravity oil on test. Geologic and engineering studies will follow to assess the discovery's reserve potential.
"Block 14 continues to be a tremendous asset for ChevronTexaco and its partners, and this latest discovery is a further success for our deepwater Angola program," said George Kirkland, president of ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum Inc. "The exploration and production assets in ChevronTexaco's Africa portfolio are of great importance to the company's strategy to grow value."
Oil companies are expected to spend $20 billion developing the deep waters off Angola during the next 5 years, positioning Angola to become Africa's second largest oil producer, reported the Centre for Global Energy Studies last March. Angola currently ranks third behind Nigeria and Libya—having already surpassed Egypt and Algeria—and field development plans suggest that the country's oil production "will overtake that of Libya by 2006," CGES said (OGJ Online, March 27, 2002).
Operator Cabinda Gulf Oil holds a 31% interest in Block 14. Other partners are Angola's national oil company Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol EP) 20%, Italy's Agip Angola Exploration BV 20%, France's Total Angola 20%, and Portugal's Petrogal Exploration 9%.
