The Angolan state oil company Sonangol, which yesterday, February 25th, celebrated 48 years of existence, has the challenge of starting onshore oil exploration this year, following long years of operating only at sea (offshore).
To achieve this goal, the public company has already successfully completed the drilling of two onshore blocks, located in the Kwanza Onshore Basin, in the commune of Cabo Ledo, municipality of Quissama, province of Luanda. These are oil wells called ‘KON-11’ and ‘KON-12’, with the potential to produce a total of 80 million barrels of oil, 40 million for each block, throughout the exploration period.
Sonangol’s ‘debut’ in the onshore Kwanza Basin marks an important milestone for the Angolan oil industry, as it symbolizes the opening of opportunities for the discovery of more oil and complements exploration carried out offshore, according to the Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo. This achievement is also extremely relevant, because it comes 27 years following the deactivation of oil operations in these blocks, which had been inactive since 1996.
In addition to Sonangol, which is the operator with 30% of the shares, the blocks also have the partnership of a consortium composed of the companies Brites Oil& Gás, with 25%, Grupo Simples Oil and Atlas Petroleum Exploration Worldwide (20%) each, as well as Ómega Risk Solutions Angola, with 5%. To date, Sonangol’s oil production is mainly carried out in shallow and deep waters, offshore, an operation that entails more production costs, compared to onshore.
Discovered in 1966, the respective fields are located around 120 kilometers from the center of the Angolan capital city. The name KON results from the combination of the words Kwanza and Onshore. With the motto ‘Sonangol, produce to transform’, the company also has, among others, the challenge of building the Cabinda refinery, expected to be completed at the end of the second half of 2024, as well as the Lobito refinery (Benguela) , to increasingly reduce the volume of refined imports.
