Sonangol, the Angolan state oil company, as concessionaire and TotalFinaElf, as operator, announce first production from Angola’s deepwater Girassol field in Block 17. Located in water depths of 1,350 metres, 150 kilometres offshore, Girassol is the largest deepwater development to be brought onstream in the world
Discovered in April 1996, the Girassol field has been brought onstream three and a half years after the decision to go ahead with the development was taken.
At production start-up, 11 wells have been connected of which eight are producers. Development drilling will continue until 2003. Ultimately, a total of 39 subsea are planned, of which 23 will be producers, 14 water injectors and two gas injectors. The subsea installations consist of 70 km of infield pipelines linked to three riser towers carrying production to a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel. The FPSO, the largest of its type ever built, is capable of processing 200,000 barrels of oil per day and storing 2 million barrels.
The coventurers in Block 17 are as follows :
| TotalFinaElf E&P Angola - Operator |
40% |
| Esso Exploration Angola (Block 17) Limited |
20% |
| BP |
16.67% |
| Statoil |
13.33% |
| Norsk Hydro |
10% | |
