U.S.-based Chevron announced in March 2013 that it will proceed with development of two projects 50 miles southwest of Pointe-Noire offshore the Congo basin. That project is expected to cost about $10 million and produce 140,000 barrels of crude oil per day by 2017.
But there may be as much as 600 million barrels of oil off the Congolese coast, according to Italian energy company Eni. Eni has been drilling in inland Congo since the late 1960s, and made the offshore discoveries while drilling in more than 9,800 feet of water 10 miles off the coast.
Paris-based Total SA reported in December it is progressing with development of the Moho Nord deepwater offshore Congo project, where the first oil is expected to come up in 2015.
Further south off Angola, BP Exploration’s PSVM development — 112 miles offshore and discovered between 2002 and 2004 — finally received approval from the government to proceed with the first deepwater project in December 2012. Today, the $14 billion PVSM has 48 wells and is the largest offshore project in Africa and one of the deepest in the world.
But it is Paris-based Total that currently pumps one third of Angolan oil and could help Angola beat out Nigeria as Africa’s leading oil producer. Total’s potentially 600 million barrel Kaombo site off Angola is expected to produce 200,000 barrels a day after its scheduled start in mid-2017. Total also plans to begin production at its CLOV project this year, which is expected to pump 160,000 barrels of oil per day. The $10 billion CLOV project has 34 wells northwest of Luanda and is estimated to hold 505 million barrels of crude, according to the company which is in partnership with Statoil ASA, Exxon Mobil and BP Exploration Angola.
Now, with the oil industry experiencing increasing demand from countries like China, there is greater pressure to step up exploration activity in untapped areas. Because of this, South and East Africa are experiencing their own offshore oil boom.
