Eni Spuds New Vandumbu Well in Angola

Italian oil company Eni said that it has successfully launched a new production well in the Vandumbu field, about 350 km north-west of Luanda and 130 km west of Soyo, in the West Hub of Block 15/06, in Angola’s offshore.

According to a press release, the start-up of the VAN-102 well – which follows the start-up of the second Subsea Multiphase Boosting System (SMBS) – took place through the N'Goma FPSO and achieved a performance of about 13,000 barrels.

VAN-102 is a further step in the development of the Vandumbu field, launched on 29 November 2018, 3 months ahead of schedule, and which will be completed in Q1 2019 with the start-up of the water injection well.

"This, together with the start-up of another production well in the Mpungi field, will bring the production of Block 15/06 to a total of about 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed), further extending the production plateau," it said.

These start-ups mark the progress in the phased and clustered development strategy that Eni has adopted for Block 15/06, and which has allowed the start-up of eight fields since November 2014, when production in the West Hub started with the Sangos field.

Block 15/06 is developed by a Joint Venture formed by Eni (36.84%, Operator), Sonangol P&P (36.84%) and SSI Fifteen Limited (26.32%). Eni has been present in Angola since 1980 and currently has an equity production of around 150,000 boed.