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Chevron: Production started at shared African oil field

Chevron says start of oil production in field straddling the borders of the Congo and Angola could serve as a model in a region prone to territorial disputes. Image courtesy of Chevron. SAN RAMON, Calif., Nov. 3 (UPI) — Chevron said the development of oil reserves straddling the maritime border of the Republics of Congo and Angola could serve as a model for Africa. Chevron’s subsidiary in the region announced it started oil and gas production from the Lianzi field in a unified offshore economic zone straddling the borders of Congo and Angola. The project is the first in the region to start operations for Chevron and the first cross-border development in Africa. "As the first offshore energy development spanning national boundaries in the Central Africa region, Lianzi represents a unique cooperative approach to share offshore resources and may serve as a model for the development of similar cross-border […]

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Angola: Why Luanda’s Residents Are Asking – Where Did All the Oil Riches Go?

A few years ago, Luanda, the capital of Angola, was on every ambitious investor’s lips . With large infrastructure and housing projects rapidly changing its appearance, the city seemed to be leaving behind the country’s 27-year civil war. But hopes for renewal are slowly dissipating as the price of the commodity on which Angola’s future was being constructed – oil – steadily declines. Angola is Africa’s second-largest oil producer. It is one of the countries that have been hardest hit by the fall in oil prices. The oil crash forced Angola to slash its 2015 budget by US$17 billion (a 25% reduction ). Construction companies are having difficulties paying their workers, and the Angolan central bank has devalued the currency , the kwanza. Construction threatens to screech to a halt. The fantasy built on oil is crumbling, showing that its benefits were barely felt outside privileged sites of elite […]

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China returns to play larger role in Angolan November crude program

China has returned to be the main buyer for Angola’s November crude program, data from Platts shows, contrasting with the previous trading cycle, when more barrels headed to European refineries and the US. "Asia took more and Europe and the US took less in November," an Angolan crude trader said. "It’s a role reversal from the previous month." Angolan crude is heavily dependent on China, with 40%-60% of Angolan crude exports typically going there every month. Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state-owned Sinopec, is by far the largest buyer of Angolan crude, often buying 35%-40% of the monthly export program. Article continues below… Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and technology Daily futures summary Weekly API statistics, and much more However, during […]

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Angolan Government Cuts Spending by 50% as Oil Revenue Plunges

An oil tanker waiting in a queue of traffic outside the Port of Luanda in Luanda, Angola. The government of Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest crude producer, cut spending by half this year following a plunge in oil prices, Vice President Manuel Vicente said. Public investment was reduced by 53 percent, Vicente told lawmakers in a state-of-the-nation address on Thursday in the capital, Luanda. He delivered the speech in the absence of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, 73, who was “indisposed,” according to parliamentary Speaker Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos. Oil accounts for about two-thirds of fiscal revenue in Angola, putting the nation at risk after crude prices more than halved since June last year. The central bank devalued the currency twice this year and raised the benchmark interest rate four times in response, while the government has sought funding from the World Bank and China to help cushion […]

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Angola to Ship Most Crude in Four Years to Meet Asian Demand

Angola will export the most crude in almost four years in October as the OPEC member satisfies Asian demand and offsets diminished revenue from lower oil prices. Africa’s second-largest producer plans to ship 1.83 million barrels a day in October, the most since November 2011, according to a preliminary loading program obtained by Bloomberg. This compares with 1.77 million barrels a day in September. Angola slashed its budget by a quarter in response to the slump in crude prices, which have lost more than 50 percent in the past year. The African nation’s bid to recapture revenues is supported by demand in China, the world’s second-biggest oil-consumer, which imported near-record levels of crude in July. “Angola continues to profit mainly from Chinese demand, in addition to some demand from India and Indonesia,” said Ehsan Ul-Haq, an analyst at KBC Economics in London. The single biggest increase will be in […]

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Angola’s Credit Outlook Cut to Negative by S&P on Oil Price Drop

Angola’s credit-rating outlook was cut to negative by Standard & Poor’s, which predicted the country’s fiscal deficit will widen in the face of lower oil prices. S&P affirmed Angola’s B+ rating, four steps below investment grade, the company said in a statement on Friday. “The negative outlook indicates that we could lower our long-term rating on Angola if the country’s external or fiscal positions continue to deteriorate over the next year,” S&P said. Angola, Africa’s largest crude producer after Nigeria, relies on the fuel to generate about 70 percent of taxes and 95 percent of export income. As the price of oil plunged more than 50 percent in the past 12 months, the government slashed this year’s budget by a quarter, cut fuel subsidies and froze hiring. Government spending accounted for more than a third of Angola’s $129 billion gross domestic product in 2014.

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Report: Cuba may get oil help from Angola

Cuban energy company reaching out to Middle East counterparts for help with offshore oil development. Photo by GVictoria/Shutterstock HAVANA, July 21 (UPI) — Cuba expects to kick start its deepwater oil exploration activity with assistance from Angola’s state-run energy company Sonangol, a Cuban official said. Cuba is opening its doors more for Western powers after a long Cold War policy of isolation from the United States. The country in the past worked to cut the amount of oil it imports from Venezuela through development of its own offshore reserves. An unnamed official from Cuba’s Cubapetroleo, or Cupet, told energy reporting service Argus the preliminary deal with Sonangol outlines drilling schedules. "The matters to be determined include which of the blocks contracted by Sonangol will be drilled, the sourcing of a rig and the timing of the start of the work," the official said. The U.S. Geological Survey, which reviewed […]

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Total reaches production milestone in Angola

French energy company Total announces production milestone at offshore reserve area in Angola. Photo by James Jones Jr./Shutterstock PARIS, May 27 (UPI) — With 2 billion barrels of cumulative production from an offshore block in Angola, French energy company Total said Wednesday it set the global gold standard. Total announced it reached the milestone at its offshore Block 17 reserve area, located about 90 miles off the coast of Angola in deep waters. "Block 17 is a global benchmark in the deep offshore and represents a unique industrial adventure, with 15 discoveries and a very high level of production," Arnaud Breuillac, Total’s president of exploration and production," said in a statement. With more than 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent in production at the start of 2015, the French energy company said it’s the lead operator in Angola. Apart from Block 17, the company holds a 30 percent stake in […]

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Angola Must Raise Taxes, Cut Fuel Subsidy as Oil Falls, IMF Says

(Bloomberg) — Angola should raise taxes and eliminate fuel subsidies to help offset plummeting revenue as oil prices plunge, the International Monetary Fund said. “First, get taxes up,” Nicholas Staines, the IMF’s resident representative in Angola, said in a presentation in Luanda, the capital, on Thursday. “I absolutely love taxes. It’s how a state runs. Without taxes, no state.” Oil prices have slumped by more than half since June, cutting revenue in Angola, where crude accounts for almost all of exports and more than two thirds of government income. Authorities have slashed the oil price estimate in the 2015 budget to $40 a barrel from $81 a barrel and are due to publish a revised spending plan next month. Budget revenue will probably drop by $17 billion and oil exports fall by $27 billion based on a $45 a barrel oil price and 2014 average production of 1.66 million […]

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Statoil Takes $350M Hit on Angola Exploration Halt

Norway’s Statoil is halting exploration in Angola after poor drilling results, retreating from an offshore area it had high hopes for and capping a poor year for exploration. OSLO, Nov 21 (Reuters) – Norway’s Statoil said on Friday it was halting exploration in Angola after poor drilling results, retreating from an offshore area it had high hopes for and capping a poor year for exploration. Statoil said it was cancelling a three-year contract with Stena Drilling, handing back a drilling ship two years early and taking a $350 million charge in the fourth quarter related to the contract, the drilling and the value of the Angolan blocks. Statoil had high hopes for Angola’s offshore pre-salt blocks 38 and 39 because the geology is similar to Brazil’s, where major oil discoveries have been made in similar rocks. "Statoil’s first well results from the area have been disappointing and although the […]

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Angola Delaying Increase in Oil Output to 2017 From 2015

Angola, Africa ’s biggest oil producer after Nigeria, plans to increase output to 2 million barrels a day by 2017, according to Finance Minister Armando Manuel. That would be two years behind an earlier target. Angola will budget next year for oil prices from $88 to $92 a barrel, said Manuel, who is urging the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to take steps to avoid more declines. Brent is down 16 percent this year in London, the most since a 51 percent drop in 2008. Manuel’s comments in an interview in Washington D.C. yesterday indicate a delay in meeting a target expressed repeatedly by Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos. He has said the goal of 2 million barrels a day will be reached in 2015, helped by projects including Eni SpA’s West Hub in Block 15/06, which is scheduled to begin this year. “Although we face a […]

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Eni makes major oil discovery offshore Angola

Eni SPA has made an oil discovery on Block 15/06 in the Ochigufu exploration prospect offshore Angola. It is the 10th commercial oil discovery for the block, and is estimated to hold 300 million bbl of oil in place. The Ochigufu 1 NFW well was directionally drilled by the Ocean Rig Poseidon drilling unit in 1,337 m of water, reaching a total depth of 4,470 m. Eni says it found 47 m of proved net oil pay of 34° gravity in the Lower Miocene and Oligocene sandstones. Data acquired in Ochigufu 1 indicate a production capacity of more than 5,000 b/d of oil. Studies are under way to evaluate an early tie-in to the 100,000-b/d Ngoma floating production, storage, and offloading vessel that lies in the nearby West Hub oil development project, which would enable Ochigufu 1 to be “brought into production in record time,” the company says. Separately, […]

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Angolan oil flow seen above 2 million b/d

HOUSTON, Aug. 20 08/20/2014 Angola will produce 2.1-2.2 million b/d of crude oil by 2016, predicts Moody’s Investors Service. In a credit analysis of the Angolan government, Moody’s cited deepwater projects due on stream soon in the Lower Congo basin and the government’s plans to offer deep and ultradeepwater blocks to international operators next year in the southern Kwanza basin and unexplored Namibe basin. The Kwanza basin, Moody’s points out, has presalt geology similar to that of Brazil’s Campos and Santos basins ( OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2011 ). Important to the imminent production gain is Total SA’s Kaombo project in 1,400-1,900 m of water in the Lower Congo basin. Total and its partners decided to proceed with the $16-billion development in April ( OGJ Online, Apr. 14, 2014 ). That decision, Moody’s said, boosts Angola’s production prospects. “First, it signals investors’ positive assessment of Angola’s long-term offshore prospects, […]

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Angola’s Goal to Rival Nigerian Oil Output Aided by Eni

Eni SpA (ENI) crews in Angola, Africa ’s second-largest crude oil producer, upgraded a production vessel for new pumping this year as the southwest African country targets output rivaling its bigger competitor, Nigeria. Eni plans to start production within five months as operator of Block 15-06’s West Hub fields, estimated to hold reserves of 200 million barrels, and boost flows to 80,000 barrels a day, documents on the Rome-based company’s website show. The block’s East Hub development is due to pump about 49,000 barrels a day after starting in 2016, the documents say. The block, 350 kilometers (217 miles) northwest of Luanda, the capital, is one of eight offshore projects Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos is counting on to help raise production to 2 million barrels a day by next year from 1.66 million last month. That compares with Nigeria’s 2.15 million barrels daily. One of the […]

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Angola May Miss 2015 Oil-Output Target

Angola, Africa ’s second-biggest oil producer, probably won’t reach an output target of 2 million barrels a day next year because new projects will be too late to boost declining flows, Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said. Sonangol EP, the state oil company, said in a statement May 5 that the target remains in place after government-run newspaper Jornal de Angola reported that the goal was deferred to 2017. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries member pumped 1.54 million barrels a day last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “I don’t think 2 million barrels a day by next year is realistic,” David Thomson , a Wood Mackenzie analyst in Edinburgh, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “I am confident it will happen, but toward the end of the decade.” Total SA’s CLOV fields in Block 17 and Eni SpA’s Western Hub in Block 15/06 are expected to start […]

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Massive oil discovery claimed offshore Angola

Early results from a program off the coast of Angola show there may be as much as 700 million barrels of oil in the region, Cobalt International Energy said. Cobalt, through a partnership with national and international energy companies, released results from its Orca-1 pre-salt deepwater exploration well off the coast of Angola. The company said it tested the well at a rate of 3,700 barrels of oil and 16.3 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The company, which has headquarters in Houston, said the results show this may be the largest oil discovery every found in the Kwanza basin off the coast of Angola. "Cobalt’s post drill estimates indicate a resource range of between 400 and 700 million barrels of oil," . Cobalt Chief Executive Officer Joseph Bryant said the field may be the "most significant oil discovery" ever made in […]

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Angolan oil will peak in 2016, IMF says

Economic growth in Angola will slow in 2017 as oil output declines, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The economy is forecast to expand by 5.3 percent this year, and by 5.5 percent and 5.9 percent in the following two years before the rate slows to 3.3 percent in 2017, IMF figures show. Crude oil production in Africa’s second-largest producer is set to decline to 1.77 million barrels a day in 2017 from 1.9 million barrels a day in 2016. “This reflects the expectation that oil production from currently known reserves will peak and then start to fall,” Nicholas Staines, the IMF representative in Angola, said last week. “The timing of this turnaround could well be pushed back as new reserves are discovered.” Angola produced 1.69 million barrels of oil a day last month. The country is attempting to diversify its economy away from oil, which accounts for […]

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Owner of Missing Oil Tanker Disputes Angolan Claims of Fake Highjacking

The Greek owner of an oil tanker that vanished off the coast of Angola said pirates hijacked the vessel and stole much of its cargo. Athens-based Dynacom Tankers Management Ltd., said late Sunday in a statement that it had re-established contact with the 75,000-tonne MT Kerala. The Liberian-flagged ship vanished Jan. 18, raising concerns in the industry that piracy in West Africa is spreading south from the Gulf of Guinea toward Nigeria, the continent’s biggest oil producer. The vessel was on charter to Angolan state oil firm Sonangol. "Pirates hijacked the vessel offshore Angola and stole a large quantity of cargo by ship-to-ship transfer. The pirates have now disembarked," the statement said, adding that the ship’s 27-member crew was safe. Angola’s navy has said the hijacking was staged. The tanker "cut off its communication system while at the entrance of the Luanda bay and followed a tugboat to Nigeria," […]

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