Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol) and BP today announced the ‘Cesio 1’ oil discovery in the deepwater Block 18, offshore Angola. This was the first of two exploration wells which BP drilled in Block 18 in 2003.
The Cesio-1 well was drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig, the Leiv Eiriksson, in 1600 metres water depth some 170 kilometres off the Angolan coast.
Further work will be needed to evaluate the full extent of the Cesio 1 discovery. It lies some 25 kilometres to the south-west of the planned Greater Plutonio development.
Block 18 was awarded in the middle of 1996 by Sonangol to Amoco as Operator and Shell, with a 50 per cent equity each. Following the merger between BP and Amoco in 1999, BP now manages the interest formerly held by Amoco.
Notes to Editors
BP’s involvement with Angola goes back to the mid-1970s. During the 1990s, BP made very substantial investments in Angola’s offshore oil and it is now an important part of the company’s upstream portfolio. BP has interests in four blocks with operatorship of two.
BP operates Block 18, which contains the Greater Plutonio project. BP has 50 per cent equity in the block, Shell also has 50 per cent.
BP also operates Block 31 with a 26.67 per cent interest together with partners Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Block 31) limited 25 per cent, Sonangol E.P. 20 per cent, Statoil Angola A.S. 13.33 per cent, Marathon Petroleum Angola Block 31 Limited 10 per cent, and EPA (Block 31) Ltd (a member of the Total group of companies) 5 per cent.
BP’s other interests in Angola are:
Block 15 operated by Esso (BP 26.67 per cent equity), which contains the Kizomba A and B fields that are now being developed.
Block 17 operated by Total (BP 16.67 per cent equity), which contains the Girassol field, which came on stream in December 2001 and the Dalia field, which was approved for development by Sonangol in May 2003.
