Angola Block 15 at 15: a national success

Approximately 90 miles off the coast of Angola — in water nearly a mile deep — is Block 15, a section of the Atlantic about the size of Connecticut. Fifteen years ago, ExxonMobil employed new seismic and other technologies to discover oil and gas there, unlocking the hydrocarbon potential in areas previously not accessible.

Today the potential of Block 15 is an economic reality, as it produces more than 600,000 barrels of oil a day and ranks as Angola’s largest producing block. And earlier this year, cumulative production reached 1 billion gross barrels.

In August, ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Exploration Angola Limited (Esso Angola) commemorated the 15th anniversary of the signing of the production-sharing agreement that launched the Block 15 venture.

Signed by Sonangol, the concessionaire for the government of Angola, Esso Angola as operator and co-venturers, the agreement granted exploration, development and production rights to the Block 15 consortium.

Government officials, industry representatives and members of the diplomatic corps in Angola, on hand for the celebration in the capital city of Luanda, recognized Esso and venture members BP Exploration (Angola) Limited, ENI Angola Exploration B.V. and Statoil Angola Block 15 A.S. for their contributions to the country’s economy and the well-being of its people.

Start of a new era
From the project’s startup in 1994 through the present, Esso Angola applied leading-edge deepwater technologies to develop new oil-production capacity in West Africa. These included construction of the world’s largest floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) and advances in the early production of large-scale resource development opportunities.

Jim Seale, Esso Angola president, told those attending the anniversary ceremony that Block 15 activities ushered in a new era for deepwater exploration and development.

“The milestones achieved,” he said, “are further examples of the company’s commitment to developing the region’s most productive hydrocarbon basins. We fulfill this commitment by combining world-class technology, consistent project execution, a highly skilled workforce and an unwavering attention to safety and protection of the environment.”

Representing the Ministry of Petroleum, Eng. Gualter Inocêncio, Angola’s vice minister of petroleum, added that all parties and stakeholders in the country have benefited since the agreement signing.

2002 Progressed four major development projects using FPSOs, utilizing the “design one, build multiple” concept.

Setting industry standards
Block 15 developments established industry benchmarks for world-record completion times with the lowest unit-development costs for projects of their size and complexity.

The first benchmark came with the start of Block 15 production in late 2003. Esso deployed an FPSO in the Xikomba field and used it as an early-production system. The application of this technology accelerated Block 15’s production while permanent facilities for the much-larger Kizomba A development were still under construction.

Less than a year later, the Kizomba A development produced its first oil in a record 36 months after FPSO construction began. In addition to the FPSO, which was the largest of its kind, the project featured a unique tension-leg drilling and production platform.

Kizomba B began operations in 2005 with facilities nearly identical to Kizomba A (following ExxonMobil’s efficient and effective “design one, build multiple” approach). It improved on Kizomba A’s record by starting production in less than 31 months after the start of FPSO construction.

As part of the subsequent Kizomba C development, more history followed with installation of two additional FPSOs — one each for the Mondo and Saxi/Batuque fields, which began production in 2008. Again, a record was set when the Mondo FPSO and subsea production facilities were completed in only 23 months.

To date, Esso Angola, on behalf of the Block 15 venture, has announced 17 discoveries that have yielded a resource base of over 5 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

However, much work remains, with two of the discoveries under development and the remaining six to be evaluated for potential future activity. In addition, a gas-gathering project scheduled for completion in 2010 will deliver associated gas through a 78-mile pipeline to a new liquefied natural gas plant under construction near the coastal city of Soyo.

Nobody gets hurt
Further defining Block 15’s success has been its impressive safety record. In December 2008, Esso Angola offshore employees and contractors completed an impressive one year and nearly 4 million hours without a lost-time incident.

The achievement reflects the company’s success in incorporating Nobody Gets Hurt, a vision of the ExxonMobil global safety program, as the standard for Block 15 operations.

Ken Larson, former Esso Angola project manager, adds that the Block 15 initiative has focused on the underlying safety culture and finding new opportunities from a leadership perspective to improve safety performance.

“We have worked to develop messages that resonate with every one of our employees and contractors.”

The recent 15-year anniversary of these and other accomplishments achieved during the course of Block 15’s successful development are a testament to responsible project execution and the ongoing working relationship among the Angolan government, Esso and its venture partners.