Italian energy company Eni started production two weeks ahead of schedule at the deep offshore Cinguvu oil field in the West Hub development project in Block 15/06 offshore Angola.
The development is sited 350km northwest of Luanda and 130km west of Soyo, and marks an important step for Eni’s hub-building strategy in Block 15-06. In November 2014, Eni brought in first oil in West Hub with its Sangos field start up, then later brought its second field, Cinguvu, on stream.
The West Hub development project includes Sangos, Cinguvu, Mpungi, Mpungi North and Vandumbu fields in 1000-1500m water depth. The wells are arranged in clusters and connected to the 100,000 b/d floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the N’Goma. The Sangos and Cinguvu fields are producing about 60,000 b/d (Eni’s equity is 18,000 b/d), also via the N’Goma. Production is expected to ramp up to 100,000 b/d in 4Q 2015 with the startup of the third field, Mpungi, which will also be connected to the N’Goma FPSO.
Eni won the bid round in 2006, and commenced drilling 24 exploration and appraisal wells in Block 15/06, where it discovered more than 3 billion bbl in place and 850 MMbbl of reserves. The discoveries were developed with a time-to-market of only 44 months from the declaration of commercial discovery. Eni credits the fast development time to the application of a new modular development model.
Eni plans to start up its East Hub development in 2017, which the company says will raise overall production from Block 15/06 to 200,000 b/d. Eni, as operator of Block 15/06 with a 35% stake, plans to tie new discoveries to the existing production infrastructures.
Partners include Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção (35%), SSI Fifteen (25%) and Falcon Oil Holding Angola SA (5%). Eni has held a presence in Angola since 1980 and has grown its production there to 105,000 boe/d.
Image of the N'Goma FPSO. From SBM Offshore.
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