Large hydrocarbon deposit discovered off Angolan coast

CAPE TOWN – A large hydrocarbon deposit has been discovered off the shore of Angola’s capital Luanda at a site operated by American firm ExxonMobil, the country’s national agency for oil, gas and biofuels announced Monday.

The deposit was discovered about 365km northwest of the oil-rich nation’s coast through a drilling 1 100m deep, the Angola’s National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) said in a statement.

The ANPG added the new reservoir has physical properties ‘of high quality’.

Drilling

The American natural gas giant, which is implementing new multiple drilling technology, is expected to produce about 40 000 barrels of oil daily from the new deposit.

“ExxonMobil is optimising this resource and creating value for the Angolan people,” President of ExxonMobil Upstream Company Liam Mallon said in the same statement.

Angola - which is one of the top two largest oil exporters of the black gold in Sub-Saharan Africa alongside Nigeria - produces 1.2 million barrels a day, the country’s mineral resource ministry told AFP.

The oil-dependent nation, which embarked on an ambitious reform programme to diversify its economy, has faced strain from a decline in oil prices since 2014.

Located

Angola is located on the western Atlantic Coast of Southern Africa between Namibia and the Republic of the Congo.

It also is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to the east. The country consists of a sparsely watered and somewhat sterile coastal plain extending inland for a distance varying from 50 to 160km.

Slightly inland and parallel to the coast is a belt of hills and mountains and behind those a large plateau. The total land size is 1 246 700km2. It has an exclusive economic zone of 518 433 km2.