Angola's state-owned oil company Sonangol, together with its exploration partner ANPG (Agência Nacional de Petróleo e Gás), has successfully drilled and tested an offshore appraisal well that demonstrated strong reservoir potential for both oil and gas production.

In an announcement on Thursday, Sonangol and ANPG confirmed the successful completion of drilling and testing operations at the Katambi-2 appraisal well, located in Block 24 of the Benguela Basin, a frontier exploration area that has received comparatively less drilling activity than Angola's mature deepwater blocks in the Lower Congo and Kwanza basins.

The Katambi-2 well intersected two productive intervals, confirming reservoirs of good quality with metrics that exceeded those recorded at the Katambi-1 well, originally drilled by BP more than a decade ago. BP subsequently returned its stake to the Angolan state, citing the discovery as not commercially viable at the time.

Sonangol and ANPG drilled the Katambi-2 appraisal well approximately 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) from the original Katambi-1 well. Initial tests yielded a stabilized production rate of 1,160 barrels per day (bpd) of condensate alongside 41 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of gas. No water or hydrogen sulfide (H2S) was detected in the well — a factor that reduces processing complexity and infrastructure costs and that the companies said reinforces the economic viability of developing the discovery and its potential contribution to optimizing Angola's national production.

Katambi-2 also marked a milestone for Angola: Sonangol and ANPG conducted the country's first full flow test (Full DST) on a non-associated gas reservoir. Preliminary assessment of the test results indicated the well has the potential to produce more than 100 MMscfd.

The successful appraisal comes as Angola seeks to reverse years of declining oil production and develop its non-associated gas resources. The country is positioning itself to capitalize on renewed momentum in offshore oil and gas exploration, particularly among producing nations whose energy exports do not depend on transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

At the same point last year, Angola's crude output slipped below 1 million bpd for the first time in two and a half years — and for the first time since the country, one of Africa's largest oil producers, left OPEC effective January 2024 following a dispute over production quotas that Angolan authorities argued would have required deeper cuts than the country was willing to accept.

In recent months, however, crude output has stabilized at approximately 1.1 million bpd. Separately, the BP-Eni joint venture Azule Energy launched Angola's first non-associated gas development earlier this year, underscoring a broader national push to monetize gas resources that were previously considered secondary to crude oil.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com