Our work in Angola is concentrated in conventional and deep offshore, with a total developed and undeveloped area of 21,441 square kilometres. Our main asset in the country is Block 15/06 (Eni 36.84%, operator) with the West Hub and East Hub projects, where over four years we have started eight fields, four of which in 2018 alone.
Our exploration and production activities are governed by concession contracts and Production Sharing Agreements (PSA). Other production blocks in which Eni has a stake are Block 0 (Eni 9.8%) in Cabinda, north of the Angolan coast, the Development Areas in Block 3 and 3/05-A (Eni 12%) in the country's offshore area, the Development Areas in Block 14 (Eni 20%) in the deep offshore area west of Block 0, the Lianzi Development Area in Block 14K/A IMI (Eni 10%) and the Development Area in Block 15 (Eni 20%) in the deep offshore. We are also working hard to support the socio-economic development of the country.
We hold a 13.6% interest of the Angola LNG (A-LNG) which run the plant, located in Soyo, with treatment capacity of approximately 353 bcf/year of feed gas and a liquefaction capacity of 5.2 mmtonnes/y of LNG. In October 2019 Eni, as operator of a new joint venture (Eni’s interest 25.6%), signed a commercial agreement with the partners of the A-LNG for the development of the gas fields to support the liquefaction plant.
In 2020, exploration activities yielded positive results in the operated Block 15/06 (Eni’s interest 36.84%), following a successful appraisal well of the Agogo discovery, with estimated volumes of 1 billion boe in place. The Block 15/06 exploration license was renewed for additional three years. The agreement will allow to assess the possible additional mineral potential of the area. During the year, production ramp-up was achieved at the Agogo discovery well, connecting it to the Ngoma FPSO (West Hub project). Production started up just nine months after the discovery, confirming Eni’s commitment in the fast-track development of the discoveries, that maximizes the projects value leveraging on the synergies with the existing infrastructures.
Other development activities in the operated Block 15/06 concerned:
- the completion of the subsea production and injection facilities at the Cabaça North & UM 4/5 project
- studies for the full field development of the Agogo field
- activities related to the Ndungu discovery development.
In October 2020, the unitization agreement of the three Development Areas of Block 14 (Eni’s interest 20%) was ratified with the related implementing decree. The agreements provide a new expiration date in 2028 and new development plan of the area as well as increasing entitlement volumes for the cost recovery.
In April 2021 we made a new light oil discovery in Block 15/06, in Angola’s deep offshore. The well has been drilled on the Cuica exploration prospect located inside the Cabaça Development Area and close to the Armada Olombendo FPSO (East Hub). The discovery is based on the ILX_Infrastructure-led exploration strategy, which pursue exploration opportunities in proximity of existing infrastructures. We started production from the Cuica field via the Armada Olombendo FPSO vessel in July 2021, just over 4 month from discovery.
In September 2021 we started production from Cabaça North, via the Armada Olombendo FPSO and through our Infrastructure-Led Exploration strategy. The Cabaça North development, with an expected peak production rate in the range of 15 kbopd, will increase and sustain the plateau of the vessel, a zero-discharge, zero-process flaring FPSO with an overall capacity of 100 kbopd. This is the second start-up achieved by Eni Angola in 2021, after the Cuica Early Production achieved in July. A third start-up is expected within the next few months, with the Ndungu Early Production in the Western area of Block 15/06.
