Angola BP Plutonio oil set for 2007

SEDCO EXPRESS, Angola – UK oil giant BP’s Greater Plutonio development offshore Angola is on course for first oil in 2007, with a drilling rig heading for the Block 18 field over the weekend.

“We are on track for first oil in 2007,” Greg Blome, BP’s Drilling Superintendent, told Reuters on a visit to the Sedco Express rig. With BP and the rig’s owners, US-based offshore drilling contractor Transocean, upgrading the Sedco Express to slash the time it takes to drill a well, industry sources expect the development to be onstream by the middle of that year.The semi-submersible Sedco Express has been fixed a few miles off the coast of Luanda since May 31 where it is loading up with enough equipment to drill the first two or three development wells.It will journey the 200 km to deepwater Block 18 where the crew will undergo sa.fety training before embarking on the drilling programme on June 13 or 14, Blome said.The rig will initially bore 15 development wells in Greater Plutonio, which links five discoveries within a 20-km radius, as well as an appraisal well in the Western Area Development, also in Block 18, where BP has announced the discovery of the Chumbo and Cesio fields.Those activities would take around two months, but the rig will keep working in the area until 2010.The development will use a floating production storage and offtake (FPSO) facility, being assembled in Hyundai’s South Korean plant and slated to arrive in January or February 2007, to extract and process the oil.The FPSO will have the capacity to store two million barrels of oil and cope with a peak production of 220 000 to 240 000 barrels per day (bpd).Industry sources say Greater Plutonio, which stretches for 35 km and plugs depths of 1 200 to 1 500 metres, has total estimated reserves of around 750 million barrels, making it one of the biggest off Angola’s coast.BP’s partner in Block 18 is a relatively recent joint venture between state-owned oil firm Sonangol and Chinese state oil company Sinopec, which took over the stake from Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell.India’s ONGC Videsh had been widely tipped to get Shell’s 50 per cent interest, but lost out to a late bid from the Chinese company after China agreed to a US$2 billion credit line to help Angola rebuild its war-ravaged infrastructure.Operator BP and Sonangol Sinopec International Ltd will split the costs of the project, which industry sources estimate to top US$3 billion, equally.BP is expanding fast in Angola as work on Block 18 gathers pace and ultra-deepwater Block 31 continues to yield more discoveries.It is hiring more staff, mainly Angolans, and expects its local workforce to treble to 1 140 in 2011 from around 310 at the end of May this year.It is also predicting a greater share in oil-rich Angola’s production with its contribution quadrupling in five years.-Nampa-ReutersWith BP and the rig’s owners, US-based offshore drilling contractor Transocean, upgrading the Sedco Express to slash the time it takes to drill a well, industry sources expect the development to be onstream by the middle of that year.The semi-submersible Sedco Express has been fixed a few miles off the coast of Luanda since May 31 where it is loading up with enough equipment to drill the first two or three development wells.It will journey the 200 km to deepwater Block 18 where the crew will undergo sa.fety training before embarking on the drilling programme on June 13 or 14, Blome said.The rig will initially bore 15 development wells in Greater Plutonio, which links five discoveries within a 20-km radius, as well as an appraisal well in the Western Area Development, also in Block 18, where BP has announced the discovery of the Chumbo and Cesio fields.Those activities would take around two months, but the rig will keep working in the area until 2010.The development will use a floating production storage and offtake (FPSO) facility, being assembled in Hyundai’s South Korean plant and slated to arrive in January or February 2007, to extract and process the oil.The FPSO will have the capacity to store two million barrels of oil and cope with a peak production of 220 000 to 240 000 barrels per day (bpd).Industry sources say Greater Plutonio, which stretches for 35 km and plugs depths of 1 200 to 1 500 metres, has total estimated reserves of around 750 million barrels, making it one of the biggest off Angola’s coast.BP’s partner in Block 18 is a relatively recent joint venture between state-owned oil firm Sonangol and Chinese state oil company Sinopec, which took over the stake from Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell.India’s ONGC Videsh had been widely tipped to get Shell’s 50 per cent interest, but lost out to a late bid from the Chinese company after China agreed to a US$2 billion credit line to help Angola rebuild its war-ravaged infrastructure.Operator BP and Sonangol Sinopec International Ltd will split the costs of the project, which industry sources estimate to top US$3 billion, equally.BP is expanding fast in Angola as work on Block 18 gathers pace and ultra-deepwater Block 31 continues to yield more discoveries.It is hiring more staff, mainly Angolans, and expects its local workforce to treble to 1 140 in 2011 from around 310 at the end of May this year.It is also predicting a greater share in oil-rich Angola’s production with its contribution quadrupling in five years.-Nampa-Reuters