Eni has announced to complete the ramp-up of the Ochigufu field, in Angola’s deep offshore, reaching the production plateau of 24,000 bpd in less than two months from start-up, thus further intensifying its role in Africa’s oil and gas industry
This result allows the operated production from block 15/06 to be stable above 150,000 bpd, and is in line with the goal of adding 54,000 bpd to the block’s production by 2019.
In March 2018, Eni and state-owned Sonangol began oil production from the deepwater Ochigufu field amidst brisk activity for the company in the continent.
Ochigufu, approximately 150km from Soyo and 380km from Luanda, is connected to the Sangos production system and from there to the FPSO N’Goma, in the West Hub of Block 15/06, where Eni discovered more than three bbo in place and 850 mmbbl of reserves.
According to Eni, one of the leading players in Africa’s oil and gas landscape, “The next start-ups in this block this year will be the UM8 reservoir in the East Hub and the Subsea Boosting System for the Mpungi field, while the Vandumbu field, in the West Hub, will start production in early 2019. These start-ups will add further 30,000 bbo to the overall production from Block 15/06, which in 2019 will exceed 170,000 bpd."
In 2017, Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, met with João Gonçalves Lourenço, the President of the Republic of Angola, and stated that the company will launch Ochigufu and Vandumbu in the first half of 2018 and in the second half of 2019 respectively. These projects, together with a new submarine pumping system that will be launched in the second half of 2018, are considered to add around 54,000 bod to current oil and gas in the southern African nation.
