Chevron has not performed as well in deepwater Angola as it had in the shallow offshore, through which it nearly monopolised the country’s entire crude oil output for many years, before the regional deepwater campaign kicked off in the mid 90s. Now that the country’s production is dominated by deepwater performance, the story out there is that ExxonMobil has surpassed Chevron in total net output(operated and non operated portfolios).
In terms of operated production however, the Angolan official document (2007 figures are the latest available), still puts Chevron on the lead and even the French major TOTAL beats the world’s largest private corporation to third place.
Angola Crude-Oil Production and Projects per breakdown:
Current (2007-08) Angola oil production (total by operator, numbers are approximate)
Chevron 620,000 BOPD
Total 550,000 BOPD
ExxonMobil (Esso) 520,000 BOPD
Sonangol 110,000 BOPD
BP 100,000 BOPD
Total Production 1,900,000 BOPD
Angola – world records setting projects
14.0 billion barrels oil discovered in the past 11 years in the deepwater (proven + potential);
Total- operated Girassol FPSO (200,000 BOPD) was world’s Largest FPSO at the time;
Esso-operated Kizomba FPSO (250,000 BOPD) is currently world’s largest FPSO;
Chevron-operated Sanha (Block 0) is world first LPG FPSO.
Angola – world class projects
Sonangol estimates expenditures of $40-$50 bln in next 10 years, equivalent to $4-$5 billion per year;
Chevron’s Benguela-Belize Compliant- Piled Tower (CPT) in Block 14 installed in 400 meters water is the 5th largest free standing structure in the world and the tallest manmade structure in Africa;
Highly productive deep water wells, e.g. a BP Block 18 well with >28,000 BOPD estimated maximum production capacity (reference Universo Issue #11).
Angola LNG Project
$4 billion project being constructed near town of Soyo, northern Angola; Purpose is to commercialize gas currently being flared; Partners are Sonangol, Chevron, BP, Total and ENI; Will be on-stream in 2012 producing 5 million tons per year LNG for world markets. Please refer to our newsletter for the latest developments in this sector.
