ExxonMobil deepwater production offshore Angola Block 15
Posted: 5 December 2003
Exxon Mobil Corporation subsidiary, Esso Exploration Angola (Block
15) Limited (Esso), has started production of the Xikomba deepwater
development offshore Angola Block 15.
Xikomba is the company's first production on Block 15 and represents
the first of several anticipated operated production facilities
offshore Angola.
Located in the northwest corner of Angola Block 15, about 230 miles
(370 kilometers) northwest of Luanda in water depths of up to 4,850
feet (1,480 meters), Xikomba employs an Early Production System
consisting of nine subsea wells tied back to a Floating Production,
Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel. Xikomba is the third deployment
of ExxonMobil's Early Production System (EPS) Technology offshore
West Africa and the first EPS offshore Angola.
Commenting on the announcement, Rex W. Tillerson, senior vice president,
Exxon Mobil Corporation, said, "The Xikomba Early Production
System gives us a major advantage in accelerating production in
Angola. We are clearly an industry leader in the use of this technology,
and it is allowing us to produce oil in the smaller Xikomba field
on Block 15 while permanent facilities for the much larger Kizomba
A project are being completed."
The Xikomba project included the awarding of contracts and subcontracts
to Angolan companies to provide in-country fabrication, logistics
support, training, and development and employment of Angolan nationals.
These contracts support sustained growth in Angolan capacity and
expertise to support future oil and gas developments.
The Xikomba field was discovered in 1999 and has estimated recoverable
resources of approximately 100 million barrels of oil with a target
production of 80,000 barrels per day.
In addition to Xikomba, ExxonMobil has previously announced two
world-class deepwater developments on Block 15 that incorporate
the Corporation's "design one-build two" approach, which
provides significant time and cost savings.
Kizomba A and Kizomba B, both $3.4 billion developments, together
have estimated recoverable resources of approximately two billion
barrels of oil and a combined target production of 500,000 barrels
of oil per day. First oil from Kizomba A is scheduled for 2004;
Kizomba B first oil is expected in early 2006.
ExxonMobil has a leading position in nearly all the major exploration
and production areas in the world.
The company is also a leading holder of deepwater acreage in the
world's most attractive deepwater regions, including West Africa
where it has interests in 15 blocks totaling almost 12 million gross
acres.
In Angola, ExxonMobil holds interests in six offshore deepwater
blocks covering in excess of 7 million gross acres.
The Company and its co-venturers have announced 35 discoveries
in Angola on Blocks 15, 17, 31, and 32, all of which represent significant
additions to the Company's resource base in Angola, which is now
estimated at more than 10.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels (gross).
In addition to Esso (Operator, 40 per cent), other participants
in Block 15 are BP Exploration (Angola) Limited (26.67 percent),
Agip Angola Exploration B.V. (20 per cent), and Statoil Angola (13.33
per cent). Sonangol is the concessionaire.
For more information see www.exxonmobil.com
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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