The Vandumbu field, which is located approximately 350km North West of Luanda and 130km West of Soyo, began production recently through the N’Goma floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit.
The new production well VAN-102 well, which was drilled in the West Hub of the offshore Angolan block, achieved a performance of around 13,000 barrels, said Eni.
According to Eni, VAN-102 is a further step in the Vandumbu field development. Launched in late November 2018, the production from the well has been achieved three months ahead of schedule.
The Italian oil and gas major expects to complete the production well during the first quarter of this year through the start-up of the water injection well.
Recently, the company commissioned the second Subsea Multiphase Boosting System (SMBS) in Block 15/06 to boost the oil production by 20,000 barrels of oil per day.
The VAN-102 well along with the start-up of another production well in the Mpungi field is expected to lift the total production of Block 15/06 to nearly 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed), said Eni.
The company, in a statement, said: “These start-ups mark the progress in the phased and clustered development strategy that Eni has adopted for Block 15/06, and which has allowed the start-up of eight fields since November 2014, when production in the West Hub started with the Sangos field.”
The Vandumbu field is part of the West Hub Development Project undertaken by the Block 15/06 partners, which also includes the development of Sangos, Cinguvu, Mpungi, Mpungi North and Ochigufu fields, that are contained in 1,000-1,500m of water depths.
Eni, which has been active in Angola since 1980, is the operator of Block 15/06 with a stake of 36.84%. Its partners in the Angolan block are Sonangol P&P, with a 36.84% stake and SSI Fifteen, with a stake of 26.32%.
Last month, Eni announced a new oil discovery in the same block through the drilling of the Afoxe-1 NFW well. The Afoxe prospect is estimated to contain 170-200 million barrels of light oil in place.
