- As oil companies announce the fourth deepwater discovery on Angola's offshore Block 32, the area is now moving "closer towards establishing a commercial development." Two wells at Block 32 have now proven large quantities of oil, both tested in two separate zones at a depth of around 1,500 meters.
The US company Marathon Oil announced today that its subsidiary, Marathon International Petroleum Angola Block 32 Limited, had participated in the second deepwater discovery on Block 32 offshore Angola, operated by Total Angola.
- The Canela-1 discovery well, along with the nearby Gindungo discovery moves Block 32 closer towards establishing a commercial development, the Houston-based company said in a press release today. "This discovery is the fifth significant success in Marathon's deepwater Angola exploration program on Blocks 31 and 32," the statement added.
The Canela-1 discovery well is located approximately 140 kilometres off the Angolan coast in 1,540 meters of water. The well was drilled to a total depth of 3,650 meters and, according to Marathon, "successfully tested at a rate of 6,800 barrels of light oil per day."
The Canela well is located 15 kilometres southeast of the previously announced Gindungo discovery on the same Block, and 20 kilometres west of the Lirio oil field in Block 17. The Gindungo well at Block 32 recently was drilled in 1,445 meters of water and tested at rates of 7,400 and 5,700 barrels per day from two separate zones.
Philip Behrman of Marathon Oil today celebrat4ed the good news from Angola. "Marathon is very encouraged by the results of the Canela well and we will be working closely with our partners on drilling plans to further evaluate the resource potential of Block 32," said the Marathon senior executive.
Current plans call for drilling the next well on Block 32 around midyear 2004. If similar quantities of oil are found at more locations on Block 32, it could prove commercially viable to exploit the vast deepwater oil resource, which would necessitate wide-ranging investments.
The concessionaire of Block 32 is Sonangol, Angola's state-owned oil company. Marathon holds a 30 percent interest in Block 32, along with the operator Total with 30 percent, Sonangol with 20 percent, Esso Angola with 15 percent and Petrogal with 5 percent.
Angola is currently experiencing a boom in its oil sector, which already accounts for nearly half of the country's GDP and about 90 percent of the government's revenues and export earnings. Angola's crude oil production has increased by nearly 600 percent since 1980 and the fastest growth has been registered the last two years.
New investments in explorations offshore Angola are foreseen to double Angola's oil production to an expected 2 million barrels per day by 2008 - or about the current level of Nigeria, today's largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is especially Angola's deepwater blocks that are expected to account for the most of the country's future growth in oil production. Here, large-scale exploration started only a few ears ago. Only the year 2003 saw the discovery of eight new commercial areas in four deepwater exploration blocks, and the first sites are soon expected to begin operating in earnest.
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