Chevron and its Partners have produced over four billion barrels in Block 0, offshore the Cabinda enclave in Angolan territorial waters. The four billion Barrel mark was achieved sometime before June 2012.
In 1958, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC), Chevron’s wholly owned operating unit in Angola, drilled its first onshore well. Its first discovery however came offshore, eight years later. CABGOC — together with its partners, Sonangol E.P. (41%), TOTAL Petroleum Angola Ltd (10%) and ENI Production B.V. (9.8%) —made its first discovery in 1966, which led to delineation of Block O’s Malongo Field.
A quarter of the four billion is attributable to Takula field alone. When it was discovered in October 1971, Takula’s survival as a standalone development was uncertain. Forty years and more than 100 wells later Takula not only proved commercial but reached a milestone— 1 billion barrels of oil produced — more than a quarter of all the oil recovered from Block O to date.
Chevron says that the significance of the Takula Field to the Angolan oil industry goes far beyond the barrels of oil produced from the field. Due to the economies of scale, Takula’s production infrastructure also supports production from Block O satellite fields, including Banzala, Numbi, Wamba and N’Sano, making them economically viable. “Throughout the years, technology such as waterflooding (high-pressure injection of water into a reservoir to more efficiently sweep oil into production wells) has enhanced oil recovery from the reservoir”, the company reports. The Takula Vermelha waterflood has been one of the most successful of its kind in the world, Chevron claims. In addition, horizontal and high- angle wells have been instrumental in the field’s development and increased reserves.
Takula has been an excellent laboratory for the application of state-of-the-art and emerging technologies. The lessons learned and best practices shared from the application of these technologies have been applied throughout Block O as well as other Angolan blocks.
Today, Takula produces more than 70,000 barrels of oil per day and is estimated to be commercial for at least another 40 years.
In 2009 Chevron commenced oil production from the Mafumeira Norte Field “ marking a key milestone in the continued movement of resources to reserves in Block O”, the company says in its in house journal. “To further build local project execution capability, CABGOC awarded engineering, procurement, construction and installation of the Mafumeira Norte platform to Sonamet Industrial SA, an Angola-based offshore facilities construction contractor. The contract was the first of its type for Sonamet, who also managed upgrades to the Kungulo Water Injection Platform”.
