BP makes nineteenth oil discovery in Angola ultra-deepwater block 31
Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol) and BP Exploration (Angola) announced the "Tebe" oil
discovery in ultra-deepwater Block 31, offshore Angola.
This is the nineteenth discovery made by BP in Block 31 and is located in the southern portion of Block 31 some 350
km northwest of Luanda and about 12 km to the south east of the Hebe discovery. Tebe was drilled in a water depth of
1,752 metres and reached a total depth of 3,325 metres below sea level. The well results confirmed the capacity of
the reservoir to flow in excess of 5,000 bpd under production conditions.
Sonangol is the concessionaire of Block 31. BP Exploration (Angola) as operator holds 26.67 %.
The other interest owners in Block 31 are Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Block 31) 25 %, Sonangol P&P 20
%, Statoil Angola (a subsidiary of StatoilHydro) 13.33 %, Marathon International Petroleum Angola Block 31 10 % and
TEPA (Block 31), (a subsidiary of the Total Group) (5 %).
BP's involvement with Angola goes back to the mid 1970s. During the 1990s, BP made very substantial investments in
Angola's offshore oil and it is now an important part of the company's upstream portfolio. BP has interests in four
blocks with operated interests in two and has a 13.6 % interest in the Angola LNG project.
The operatorship of Block 31 was awarded to BP Exploration (Angola) in May 1999. The Block covers an area of 5,349 sq
km and lies in water depths of between 1,500 and 2,500 metres.
BP also has operated interests (BP 50 % equity) in Block 18 where the Greater Plutonio Project started production on
1st October 2007.
BP has non-operated interests in Block 15, operated by Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) (BP 26.67 %), in Block 17
operated by Total (BP 16.67 %) and the ALNG (13.6 %).
