Green light from TotalEnergies for oil project off Angola

France-headquartered energy giant TotalEnergies has taken a final investment decision (FID) to develop an oil development project located offshore Angola.

TotalEnergies revealed the final investment decision for the Begonia oil field on Thursday. This is the first development on Block 17/06, located 150 kilometres off the Angolan coast. The FID was made in agreement with concession holder Agência Nacional de Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis (ANPG) and the French player’s partners on Block 17/06.

TotalEnergies operates Block 17/06 with a 30 per cent interest, alongside affiliates of Sonangol P&P (30 per cent), SSI (27.5 per cent), ACREP/Somoil (5 per cent), Falcon Oil (5 per cent) and PTTEP (2.5 per cent).

The company outlines that the Begonia development consists of five wells tied back to the FPSO Pazflor, already in operation on Block 17. This project is expected to be commissioned in late 2024. Once this has been done, it will add 30,000 barrels a day to the FPSO’s production.

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, remarked: “With Begonia, the first subsea tieback to another block, we are leveraging the existing Pazflor infrastructure, reducing costs, thanks largely to the standardisation of subsea equipment, and continuing to innovate in the deep offshore.”

Moreover, Begonia is the second TotalEnergies-operated project in Angola after CLOV Phase 3 – another satellite project that produces 30,000 barrels a day and was launched on Block 17 in June 2022 – to use a standardised subsea production system, saving up to 20 per cent on costs and shortening lead times for equipment delivery. The French company explains that this project represents an investment of $850 million and 1.3 million man-hours of work, 70 per cent of which will be carried out in Angola.

As part of the rollout of its multi-energy strategy in Angola, TotalEnergies also confirmed the FID for the first non-associated gas project (NAG1) in Angola. The project, operated by Eni, will enable the gas produced from the Quiluma and Maboqueiro offshore fields to supply the Angola LNG plant, improving Angola’s LNG production capacity and the availability of domestic gas for the country’s industrial development.

According to the French giant, the production is scheduled to start in mid-2026. TotalEnergies holds an 11.8 per cent interest alongside its partners, Eni (operator, with 25.6 per cent), Chevron (31 per cent), Sonangol P&P (19.8 per cent) and BP (11.8 per cent). 

Pouyanné further says that these projects show the firm’s “ambition to support Angola during the energy transition by producing energy with low carbon intensity.”