Total announces that it has finalised the agreements for its entry into two exploration blocks in the deep offshore Angola in the framework of the licensing round 2005/2006 organised by Sonangol E&P.
Total takes a 30% interest, as operator, in the block 17/06, alongside Sonangol P&P (30%), SSI Seventeen (27.5%), Falcon Oil (5%), ACR (5%), and Partex (2.5%). Sonangol E&P is the concessionaire of block 17/06.
Block 17/06 consists of the relinquished areas of the block 17, in Lower Congo Basin South Zaire River, which was one of the first blocks awarded in the deep offshore by the Angolan Government and on which, Total, as operator, made 15 separate discoveries corresponding together to more than 3 billion barrels of recoverable oil. The 17/06 block is located in water depths ranging from 600 to 1,900 metres covering an area of approximately 3,100 square kilometres. Total considers, with its knowledge of the area, that this block is still highly prospective and has very large oil potential.
Total also enters into the block 15/06 which consists of the relinquished areas of the block 15, located in Lower Congo Basin South Zaire River, in water depths between 400 and 1,500 metres. It covers an area of approximately 4,200 square kilometres.
Total takes a 15% interest, alongside Eni (operator, 35%), Sonangol P&P (15%), SSI Fifteen (20%), Falcon Oil (5%), Statoil (5%) and Petrobras (5%). Sonangol E&P is the concessionaire of block 15/06.
Moreover, Total also announces that it has finalised the cession to Sonangol of its 27.5% share in Block 2/85 and its 55.6% in the Fina Petroleos de Angola (FPA) company. The assets of FPA consist of the Luanda refinery of 2.6 million ton a year capacity, thus far operated by Total, and of two onshore licenses located nearby Soyo in the Lower Congo Basin (49% on the FS block and 32.67% on the FST block). Total’s current equity production of Block 2/85 and blocs FS and FST is 6,500 barrels of oil per day in 2006.
Block 17:
Deep-offshore Block 17 is Total’s major asset in Angola. It is composed of four major zones (Girassol and Dalia, which are in production, Pazflor which is in the bidding process before sanction, and CLOV, a fourth major production area, based on Cravo, Lirio, Orquidea and Violeta discoveries, currently being studied).
On the Girassol structure, production from the Girassol field and the Jasmim field, a satellite to Girassol that came on stream in November 2003, is at more than 250,000 barrels per day of oil. The development of the Rosa field, developed as a 15 kilometre tie back to the Girassol FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) facility, was launched in July 2004. The field is scheduled to come on stream in the second quarter of 2007 and is expected to maintain the FPSO’s production plateau at 250,000 barrels per day.
Dalia, which started production in December 2006, is already currently producing at its full capacity of 240,000 barrels per day.
