An oil discovery in the Afoxe exploration prospect offshore Angola is a further confirmation of the oil exploration potential still held in southern part of Block 15/06, previously considered mainly gas prone, operator Eni SPA said. The company plans to to drill as many as four exploration wells back-to-back on the block in 2019.
The Afoxe-1 NFW well was drilled in the southeastern part of Block 15/06 about 120 km offshore and 50 km southwest of the Olombendo floating production, storage, and offloading vessel and 20 km west of the Kalimba-1 discovery. The well, which was drilled in 780 m of water, reached 1,723 m TD. The discovery is estimated to contain 170-200 million bbl of light oil in place.
The well encountered 20 m net oil pay of high-quality oil (37° API) contained in Upper Miocene sandstones with excellent petrophysical properties. The well has not been tested but has undergone an intensive data collection indicating production capacity above 5,000 b/d of oil. The Kalimba and Afoxe discoveries are accounting together a potential of 400-500 million boe of high-quality oil in place and represent a new cluster that can be exploited jointly in a new development concept, Eni said.
Eni and Sonangol P&P hold 36.84% interest each in Block 15/06. SSI Fifteen Ltd. holds 26.32%.
