MONDAY, 4.00PM:
A SECOND huge, deep-water oil field has been discovered off the coast of Angola, according to the latest issue of international oil and gas weekly Upstream, published in Stavanger, Norway.
The Dahlia field, discovered by French oil company Elf Aquitaine and its European and US partners, is located close to last year’s massive Girassol find and is said to be even bigger, with potential recoverable reserves in excess of one billion barrels.
”The prospect may prove to be Africa’s largest ever offshore find,” Upstream said.
The paper cited the partners as Elf Aquitaine with 35%, Esso with 20%, British Petroleum with 16,67%, Norway’s Statoil and Norsk Hydro with 13,33% and 10% respectively and Fina with 5%.
The Dahlia discovery well was drilled close to Girassol in block 17 at a similar water depth of around 1 300 meters. The recovery factor on Dahlia is likely to be lower than Girassol, ”but in-place oil reserves look to be significantly greater” than Girassol’s estimated three billion barrels.
”Production tests in the main reservoir zone have proved commercially viable flow rates and Elf is understood to be preparing to announce details,” the paper said.