A statement from the concessionaire said production began on July 30, stressing that production is being carried out via the floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) "Armada Olombendo".
According to the document, the Cuica field, operated by ENI, was discovered in the Cuica 1 exploration well in March this year and is located at a water depth of 500 meters, about three kilometers from the "Armada Olombendo" FPSO.
"The early production of the development, which will increase and sustain the production plateau of the 'Olombendo' FSPO, includes an oil producing well and a water injection well, connected to the existing subsea production system in Cabeça Norte, exploiting the full potential of the available infrastructure in the area," the note said.
The FSPO has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day and is designed to operate during its productive life with zero discharge, reads the document, stressing that besides Cuica, the vessel is also receiving and treating production from the Cabaça, Cabaça Sudeste, and UM8 fields, for a total of 12 wells and five manifolds at a water depth that varies between 400 and 500 meters.
For the fourth quarter of the current year, the statement indicates, the FPSO "Armada Olombendo" is expected to receive production from the Cabaça Norte field.
Block 15/06 is operated by ENI Angola, with a 36.84 percent stake, with the remaining contractor group comprising Sonangol Pesquisa & Produção, the state oil company, with 36.84 percent, and SSI Fifteen Limited, with 26.32 percent.
For the ANPG board, the note stresses, "this is another relevant milestone in the trajectory of the Angolan oil sector, especially in a period in which the main focus is to halt the decline in production that was being felt.
"With the entry into production of the Cuica field, we demonstrate once again to the market that both the national concessionaire and the operators continue to work hard to stimulate the national oil resources," said the president of ANPG, Paulino Jerónimo, quoted in the note.
Jerónimo expressed his confidence in the joint work that has been developed in order to achieve the objectives outlined by the Angolan government.
In his turn, the chief executive of ENI, Claudio Descalzi, also cited in the document, emphasised the importance of the project for Angola, considering the start of production at the Cuica field, just four months after its discovery, "another example of the extraordinary success of ENI's Angolan and world exploration.
